Brave
by DramaLexy
Summary: .'She was the shape of things to come – things that even he could not foresee. Bravery would serve her well.' Spoilers for Occupation and Precipice, AU after that. KA initially, but KL later
1. Kacey

TITLE: Brave

AUTHOR: DramaLexy

SUMMARY: 'She was the shape of things to come – things that even he could not foresee. Bravery would serve her well.' Spoilers for Occupation and Precipice, speculation for Exodus, Kara centric.

DISCLAIMER: If I owned it, the show would have come back in July

* * *

He'd been terrified that she'd be dead when they finally managed to pull her from the surrogate's body. No one had expected the woman's heart to suddenly give out mid-childbirth, although in hindsight it was likely due to the drugs they'd been giving her to speed the baby's gestation. The quick decision had been made to not even try to save the surrogate, just to get the baby as quickly as possible.

As Leoben laid eyes on his daughter for the first time, a tiny, limp, and blue-tinted form, he felt something he'd never experienced before: fear. If this child died, there were other opportunities, but there was some connection between them already – she had to survive.

God must have heard his prayer, because the newborn's eyes opened, and her body began to go from blue to purple to pink as her lungs took in air. She didn't cry – didn't even whimper – just looked around with her mother's hazel eyes. Leoben took her into his arms, a smile crossing his face.

"Hello, there," he said to her. "Do you know how special you are? The first of the farm hybrids to survive. You're a very important little girl."

"It's amazing anything that fragile actually survives," a Number Six told him as she sidled up behind him. Already they were disposing of the surrogate's body.

"They tend to survive better when someone doesn't snap their neck," he shot back, making her smile wickedly.

"For some reason, my sister believed that dying early would be kinder than dying with everyone else on this rock."

"You have your proof, now," Leoben told her. "Creating life requires love."

Six scoffed. "Love? Her mother doesn't even know that she exists."

"She will. And Kara will love her."

* * *

Until the day that they found the child's mother, however, Leoben's 'love' would have to be enough. The baby had survived birth, but that was just the beginning. Her father had seen the road that was laid out before her – it would not be easy.

His head had shot up the first time he heard one of the Sixes refer to her as Thirteen. "She's not a model," he quickly corrected her.

The blonde shrugged. "We have to call her something."

"Then she'll have a name, not a designation."

She'd smiled, a bit condescendingly. "Call her whatever you want." Leoben was glad when she left him alone.

He looked back to the infant in his arms and considered what would be appropriate. Perhaps if her mother knew, if her mother understood, she'd have someone that she'd want to name the baby after. But Kara wasn't there. It was just him, and he'd have to do the best he could.

"Kacey," he finally decided after consulting the wealth of knowledge stored in the back of his mind. "Because the first must be brave." She smiled up at him, and for a moment he wondered if she understood, if her brain was far more advanced than any of them realized. She was the shape of things to come – things that even he could not foresee. Bravery would serve her well.

* * *

Kacey did everything early – crawl, walk, talk. By the time she was approaching her first birthday, she was nearly on-par with a two year old and looked at least six months older than she should have due to residual affects of the aging techniques they'd used. Her father lived for her – to see her smile, to hear her laugh, to watch her become a little more like her mother every day.

If any of the humans still on Caprica happened to see the girl on a rare trip out into the radiation-poisoned sunshine, they would have seen a very strange sight: a beautiful blonde toddler accompanied by bio-Cylons and Centurions for playmates. She wasn't at all intimidated by the massive metal death machines, and the bio-Cylons were her family. She'd never known anything but life in the remains of Caprica City with her father and 'uncles' and friends.

All of that changed one day when Leoben was assigned to a mission. The Sixes and Dorals could not understand his attachment to the little girl they were forcing him to leave behind – they had not experienced love, and therefore could not understand it. Genetically, any one of the Leobens could be Kacey's father, and therefore any one of them could take care of her just as well while he was gone.

"I will be back," he promised her on their final night together in the city. Tucked into her little bed with a raggedy stuffed animal under one arm, Kacey nodded her understanding.

"Bring me present?" she asked. Often, her 'uncles' brought her things from the other broken balls of rock that used to be the Twelve Colonies. They thought that she deserved to know about her mother's heritage.

"I'll see what I can do," he agreed. "Now get some sleep."

"'Night Daddy."

Leoben smiled. He still loved that word. "Goodnight."

* * *

They'd been gone a month when they discovered the unusual radiation signature a light-year away. A raider jumped away to get some more readings. What it learned surprised everyone.

"We've found them," Six realized. It had been a complete accident; they hadn't even been out there to look and yet…here were the Colonists, just waiting for them like sitting ducks.

Leoben turned to the Simon model that was closest to him. "I need Kacey brought to me. Now."


	2. Destinies

It took time for the request to get back to Caprica, time for arrangements to be made and carried out, but finally the little girl was on her way on a long journey by Heavy Raider. Like always, she was curious about everything and constantly asked questions of the models that accompanied her. Some, especially Number Six, had no patience for the child's antics. She was especially happy when they reached New Caprica. The occupation had been underway for a few months, and Leoben had been trying to break Kara's resolve ever since the day he'd snatched her, but so far it was to no avail.

Leoben was waiting for the transport, praying with every silica and organic fiber in his body that the resistance didn't pick this ship to blow up. The landing went without incident, however, and Kacey happily bounded off the back and into his arms.

"I've missed you," he told her. "My God, you've grown so much. I hardly recognize you. Where's the little baby I left on Caprica?"

"Big now," Kacey replied with a grin.

"Yes, you are. And beautiful just like your Mommy."

Her smile widened. "Mommy here?"

"Mommy's here," he confirmed. "Do you want to see her?" He got a vigorous nod in return. "All right. Come talk with Daddy first, okay?"

They walked away from the landing pad and around the complex to a more open area. A couple benches were along the wall, and Leoben took a seat, Kacey in his lap. "I know you're excited, but you need to understand a few things. Mommy might be angry at first, but that has nothing to do with you. She's going to love you, Kacey, I know she will."

The toddler solemnly nodded. "She always wanted me, she just 'fraid."

Leoben smiled. "That's my girl."

* * *

He had her wait with a Sharon model in the hall until he was ready. Since Kacey had been born, he'd found that the Number Eights were generally very good with the little girl, undoubtedly one of the reasons that they'd been chosen to fulfill God's wish of procreation. But Leoben wasn't really thinking about that today. The Eights had failed – his daughter was the only child that mattered right now.

"Do you remember that breeding farm on Caprica?" he asked Kara.

She glared. "I remember I blew the frak out of the place."

"It wasn't a total loss." He headed up the stairs out of their apartment. "We managed to salvage certain things. Certain medical samples. Like your ovary." He knew Kara wasn't stupid; she had to realize where this conversation was going.

Kacey perked up as she heard her father's voice coming through the apartment door as he approached. He smiled at her as he took her from Eight, offering the woman a nod of thanks. The little girl had expected the look she saw on her mother's face as they went back inside – fear, anger, disgust.

"What's that?" Kara spat out from her place down at the dining room table. Leoben carried his daughter down the steps.

"This is Kacey. Kacey, this is Kara. Your mother." The toddler saw Kara's anger turn to revulsion and shock, but she remembered her father's words. It wasn't her fault. She had faith.

"Hi," she quietly said, a smile on her face as she sucked on her finger, and earned a quick kiss on the head from her father.

"Good girl," he told her. Kacey would bring Kara around, one way or another.

He'd tried to approach her with the little girl, but Kara's shock-induced paralysis finally wore off and she scrambled up from her seat, keeping herself as far away as possible as she moved to the opposite side of the room. Leoben decided he wasn't going to worry about her at the moment.

He'd had some of Kacey's things shipped along with her from Caprica, packed in a box that one of the others had left by the window while he and his daughter had talked outside. Pulling back the lid, he removed a few toys for her, making her giggle with delight. As he set her down on the floor, she quickly began playing with the blocks he'd taken out.

Once Kacey was settled, Leoben looked to see where Kara had ended up. He was happy to note that she hadn't fled the room altogether, although she had turned the railing on the stairs into a barrier between them.

He began talking to her, telling her about the amazing child that he was playing with. He didn't care if she listened or not; eventually, she would know the truth.

"She'll be hungry soon," he finally said, standing up and getting his jacket. "There's food on the table. You wouldn't let your own child starve, would you?"

"That's not my child," Kara shot back. "I don't even know if it's human."

"Half human," he replied. "And you know that she's yours, you just don't want to admit it." He stared at her for a long moment before continuing up the stairs.

"Where the frak are you going?" Kara asked. "Take this with you," she ordered, tossing her head in Kacey's direction. Leoben didn't answer, didn't pause. "Hey! Don't leave me alone with this!" But that was exactly what he intended to do, what he had to do. The door shut behind him.

Kacey just watched her, eyes large. She'd always wanted a mother. The Eights were nice to her, nicer than any of the others, but they weren't mothers. "I don't know who or what you are," Kara told her, "But I know this: I'm not your mother."

No one ever said it would be easy. But Kacey knew her destiny.


	3. Accident

The new surroundings had been fun to explore after being cooped up so long on a ship. Kacey happily played on the couch, singing a song to herself that her father had taught her. One of the Eights had said that it was morbid – Daddy explained that word meant it was a bad thing – but Kacey didn't know what was so wrong about rings and flowers.

"Wanna sing?" she asked Kara, who was ignoring her to the best of her ability. The ex-pilot turned away from her, walking to the other side of the room. Kacey got up and toddled after her, reaching for her mother. "Sing?" she asked her again. She wound up being deposited back on the couch without a word. Kacey watched her resume pacing.

"Frak!" Kara finally exclaimed, frustration bubbling over. She'd been prisoner in this hell for too long; all she'd ever asked for in life was a few good drinks, a few good cigars, and a cockpit. Too much had happened to her in the past two years, and now this?

Walking away from Kacey, she shut herself into the bathroom. She just needed a minute to pull herself back together, and then everything would be fine. She'd sit there with that thing until Leoben came back. There was a good chance he would die for a sixth time that night.

Kacey slid off the couch when she saw the bathroom door close. Kara had run away from her, and despite her father's warning, Kacey felt like she'd failed. She needed Leoben to make Kara come back; she could try harder next time. As she carefully began toddling up the stairs, she could hear her father's voice in her mind, telling her what a good girl she was. Pain shot through her head, making her cry out, and then she knew nothing.

* * *

Kara looked away from the bathroom mirror at the sound of Kacey's voice whimpering "Mommy!" and a distinct thud. _What the…_ Almost afraid of what she would find, she stepped out of the bathroom. Kacey wasn't on the couch like when she'd left. She didn't see her anywhere in the room – and then noticed little feet hanging off the stairs. Her body was in an unnatural position, and blood was coming from her head.

"Kacey?" Kara asked, but got no response. The child was completely still. She bent down, about to touch her, but suddenly realized she didn't know if she'd make it better or worse, if her daughter would even have a pulse to look for. She turned away from the little girl instead, running up the stairs instead and opening the door to her 'cell'.

"Hey!" she yelled down the hallway as loud as she could. "Somebody, please! It-she's hurt! She's hurt really bad." It almost didn't surprise her when Leoben and one of the Sharon models instantly came running down the corridor towards her. She should have known he was watching his little test.

"Get back," the Sharon model ordered, motioning her away from the bars, unwilling to risk that this was just an escape tactic. Kara wasn't even thinking about that.

"What happened?" Leoben asked her as Sharon opened the door.

"She fell. She fell on the stairs." Kara just watched as they brushed by her, running into the apartment and down to Kacey's prone form. Leoben carefully turned her over, cradling her in his arms.

"Kacey? It's Daddy, can you hear me?"

"We need to get her to the medical center," Sharon told him. He nodded, scooping Kacey up. He noticed Kara as they went back upstairs, and decided that in this situation she had to be a mother instead of a prisoner or else it would all be in vain.

"Let's go," he told her, and Kara followed him out the door and down the hall.

* * *

If Kara had been thinking a little more clearly, she might have entertained ideas of trying to escape, but she probably wouldn't have gotten far. So instead she stayed to see how bad of a mess she'd made this time. Kacey was pale and still on a bed in a private room, and Kara found herself captivated by the sight. The little girl wasn't human – was one of THEM – but although she had no proof of it, she knew that Kacey was part of her. Kara had hurt a part of herself; she'd turned into her mother.

"Kara," Leoben quietly said as he came into the room as well and offered her a mug of tea. She wordlessly accepted it, and he took a seat on the other side of Kacey's bed to watch both of the girls in his life. He had faith that Kacey would be all right – she was strong like her mother and it wasn't her time yet. But Leoben knew Kara's secrets and knew what would be running through her mind.

A glimmer of a smile crossed his face. It was working.

* * *

Kara turned back towards Kacey, putting her mug down on the bedside table, and hesitated for a moment as she saw Leoben out of the corner of her eye. The look on his face was something she'd seen before – he thought he had her. She'd fooled him so many times in the past, but this time, she'd be fooling herself if she didn't admit that something had changed. As much as she wanted to hate the little girl lying on the bed, she couldn't, because she'd always promised herself that she'd never do anything like that to a child. And he knew it…_Oh Gods, he knew…_

She looked down at Kacey, to the bandage on her head, hiding a nasty gash. The position that the little girl had been in on the stairs flashed in her mind. How could she have wound up like that from falling? It didn't make sense…unless it hadn't been an accident. He was using Kacey; he'd created a person just to be a pawn. The thought made Kara sick. Even a hybrid deserved better; Kacey hadn't asked to be born into this life.

"Are you hungry?" Leoben asked, moving to stand beside her. She felt a pang of guilt as she realized she'd never actually fed Kacey.

"No," she quietly replied, her voice rough. He sat down with her, and silence reigned for a long moment. Finally Kara sat forward, taking Kacey's hand. "Lords, please don't take her life," she quietly prayed, wondering if the Lords would actually listen to prayers for Cylons. "It was my mistake; don't punish her for it."

She felt Leoben's hand on her bare arm. "It was an accident, Kara," he told her. "Nothing more."

_Oh, if only,_ she thought to herself.

It took her brain a moment to process what had happened when she felt a tiny bit of movement under her hand – Kacey's fingers had moved. As Kara stared in surprise, the little girl's eyes slowly opened. "Kacey?" she whispered standing up. "Kacey, oh my Gods. Hi, honey." Hazel eyes, just like her own, stared back up at her. In that moment, Kara knew what she had to do. She'd never asked for the little girl in front of her, but she had to protect her. She'd figure everything else out later.

Still holding Kacey's arm in her left hand, Kara reached her right hand back to Leoben, wrapping her fingers around his own. She could feel his surprise, but his grip tightened a moment later, and she could imagine the satisfied smile on his face.

Kacey just watched her in silence. She finally had a mother.

* * *

TBC... 


	4. Exceptional Girl

Once conscious, Kacey was declared out of the woods, and Leoben wanted to take her home. They got the little girl settled in on the bed in the master bedroom, tucked under the covers with her doll. "You hungry, Kacey?" Leoben asked her, and received a small nod in return. "Okay, I'll be right back."

"Mommy?" the little girl called out to Kara. "You stay with me?"

She smiled, lying down on the bed next to her. "I'm not going anywhere if you don't want me to, okay?" Kacey smiled a bit, too, curling up at her side.

Leoben stopped short when he returned, surprised by the sight before him. "You okay?" he asked as he stepped over to the bed. Kara reached to take the bottle he was holding.

"We're fine," she replied, giving the bottle to Kacey. "Right, honey?" She nodded.

"I'm going to go make some dinner for us."

Kara smiled. "We'll be okay. Honest." He hesitated a moment, but nodded and left the room.

Once Kacey finished her bottle, Kara put it on the nightstand. "Go ahead and go to sleep," she told the little girl. "You're probably still tired."

"You don't go?" Kacey quietly asked. Kara held her a little bit closer.

"I promise. I'll be right here when you wake up." Kacey closed her eyes, and after a few minutes, her breathing evened out into that of sleep. Kara gently brushed her little blonde curls back from her face. "I'm not going to let you get hurt again," she whispered. "I'll keep you safe."

* * *

When Leoben woke up the next morning, he found that the bed he'd been sharing with Kara and Kacey was now empty. A few seconds later, however, he heard giggling coming from the main room of their apartment. 

A smile crossed his face as he discovered the pair on the couch, playing with Kacey's toys. "Good morning," he called across the room.

"Morning," Kara replied. "Someone, can't imagine who, woke up early and I didn't want to disturb you." Kacey smiled proudly, knowing exactly who her mother was talking about.

"I wouldn't have minded, but I'm glad you're getting along. Anyone want breakfast? I bet I could scrounge up some pancakes from somewhere."

"One of the Sharons already brought some food for Kacey," Kara told him. "She was hungry; I figured you wouldn't mind."

Leoben smiled. "She's your daughter, too, Kara. Do whatever she needs; you don't have to get my permission." She studied him for a moment, but nodded.

They had a nice afternoon together in the apartment. Leoben had managed to find a puzzle, and Kacey had eagerly attacked the challenge. Kara was captivated as she watched the little girl work on something she shouldn't have been able to comprehend at her age, let alone master.

"Pretty?" Kacey asked her mother at one point, indicating her half-finished handiwork. The several hundred pieced puzzle was a picture of a dozen toy animals, each wearing the colors of one of the Twelve Colonies.

"It's very pretty."

Leoben handed Kara a mug of what passed for coffee on New Caprica. "Has she always been like this?" she asked him as he sat down with her on the couch.

"Yes. She's been exceptional ever since the day she was born."

Kara cracked a smile. "Wish I could take credit for that."

"You can. She has your determination, your creative thinking – "

"So she's stubborn and rebellious."

Leoben smiled. "She is the best of both of us." Kara stared at him a long moment, unsure whether or not she should reply, or even what she'd say if she had to.

Lost in thought, she was taken by surprise when she felt a little hand on her arm. Kacey grinned at her, before pressing a puzzle piece into her hand.

"Am I supposed to be helping?" she asked the child, and received a nod in return. Kara got down on the floor with her and they resumed work on the puzzle. "Does it go here?" Kara asked, putting the piece down over an obviously incorrect hole. Kacey shook her head with a giggle, blonde curls flying. "No? Okay, how about here?"

* * *

That night, Kara forced herself to go sleep in the same bed as Leoben without Kacey between them as a barrier. The little girl now had her own bed in the corner and was fast asleep by the time Kara finished taking a shower. Leoben was a gentleman, and didn't try anything with her, but that didn't make falling asleep any easier. 

She'd only just gotten to sleep when a little voice broke the quiet in the room. "Daddy? Daddy?" Kara started to turn over to look towards Kacey, but felt Leoben getting out of bed as well.

"What's the matter, Kace?" he whispered as he knelt next to her bed.

The toddler sniffled. "Bad dream."

He brushed her hair from her face. "What did you see?"

"There was peoples yelling and crying and fire."

"Where, Kacey?"

"Outside."

"In New Caprica City?"

She nodded. "Everyone was fighting."

* * *

TBC... 

feedback is much appreciated!


	5. the Fighting

Kacey's vision deeply concerned the Cylons that had learned to trust what the little girl saw. They'd already failed at an attempt to slaughter the resistance's top leaders during a secret meeting in the woods. Two Colonial Raptors had been seen taking off from the surface as well – the insurgency had received backup. Another effort to retaliate against the recent Cylon killings by the resistance had also gone south when the human police force sided with their prisoners. Control of New Caprica was slipping.

Kara was starting to worry about what exactly Kacey's purpose was. How a toddler was supposed to have 'spiritual clarity' was beyond her, but who would she grow up to be? A prophet for the Cylons? A threat to humanity, or a friend?

"How do you know the things you know?" Kara asked the little girl the following afternoon as they sat together in the living room, working on their puzzle. It was a rather deep question, for someone so small, but Kara had no doubt she'd get an answer. Leoben had gone out for a few hours, to some Cylon meeting that Kara really didn't want to think too hard about.

Kacey looked up, and shrugged slightly. "Daddy…and I just know."

"What has he told you about Humans and Cylons?"

"I'm both."

"Yeah, you are, but…" She didn't even know what to ask, or how to ask it.

"Humans made Cylons," Kacey spoke up without another question being posed. "They're the mommies and daddies. Both are good, but together they're better."

"Why?"

Kacey got to her feet with a smile and gave Kara a kiss on her cheek. "Mommy, Daddy, and me." Kara supposed that would make perfect sense for a child. If humans and Cylons hadn't been brought together – even if it was in a Petri dish – she wouldn't exist.

"Why are you special, Kacey?"

"Because of love." With that, she sat back down and returned to her puzzle.

* * *

By the time Leoben got back, the sun was setting. "That took longer than I expected," he offered up as he came downstairs. The girls were on the couch, reading a book together. "I'm sure you two have been having more fun than I have," he commented with a smile as Kacey reached for him for a hug. Kara didn't answer. "Did you eat?" 

"Yeah. There's another plate on the table."

His smile grew. "Thank you, Kara."

She shrugged, "Not like I had to cook it."

Kacey yawned, putting her head on his shoulder. "Someone looks sleepy," he told her. "Did you con your way out of a nap again?"

"I got her down for a half hour," Kara cut in.

"Mmm. That's about as good as most of her aunts can do." She decided not to think about that too much, either. The thought of any of the Number Sixes – or most any of the other models – being responsible for Kacey wasn't a good image.

"All right, I think that it's bedtime," Leoben continued. "Say goodnight to Mommy." She leaned over and offered Kara a hug as well.

"'Night," the little girl whispered.

"Goodnight, honey."

Once they'd disappeared into the bedroom, Kara got up to start cleaning up the things they'd been playing with all day. She was getting herself something to drink when Leoben came back. "She asleep?" she asked him.

"Out like a light." Leoben sat down at the table to eat his dinner, and Kara found herself voluntarily sitting at the other end, although silence reigned for a long moment. Then, something outside caught her eye. A bright flash out in the city. Another one followed a moment later – explosions.

"What did you do all day?" Leoben asked her, then realized that she wasn't paying any attention. He, too, turned to the window, and saw what had Kara frozen in surprise. By the light of the city, and of the now burning fires, ships could be seen descending from the sky.

The building rattled a bit as an explosion occurred much closer than the others. Leoben simply got up and closed the shades, then returned to his dinner. "Are you crazy?" Kara asked.

"Finish your drink." The walls shook again. She got up, going to look outside, but he stopped her, forcefully holding her wrists.

"Get off of me!"

"You're safe here. This will be dealt with."

Kara yanked her arms away. "You don't think they're going to try to bring this building down? The headquarters of the occupation? The human race is never going to bow down and let you be our masters. Those ships out there mean this will be the end of everything, live or die. If you keep us here, you're going to kill us."

In a move so fast, she didn't even see it coming, he grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the wall. "You belong here, with me. I won't let anything happen to you. You will always be mine, Kara. It's our destiny."

The sound of at least five gunshots rang in her ears, and suddenly the hand on her throat was gone. Kara fell forward, gasping for air, barely registering the footsteps racing down the stairs towards her. As she looked up, however, she saw the face of someone she never thought she'd see again.

"Sam?" she gasped out, not sure if she was dreaming or not. He just smiled down at her as he knelt at her side.

"You can be one damn hard woman to find, you know that?"

Kara sat up, rubbing her neck. "How'd you pull it off?"

"Had a friend that thought they saw you in the medical center a couple days ago. After that, I just needed an inside edge from a friend." He tipped his head back towards the stairs, and as Kara looked up, she realized that a Sharon model was on the landing, keeping an eye on their escape route.

"You're working with the toasters now?" Kara asked him, incredulous.

Sam shook his head. "The Admiral sent Lieutenant Agathon to us to coordinate the rescue."

"Lieutenant What?"

"We can give you a history of the past few months later," Sharon told her. "Right now, we should probably get the frak out of here." Sam helped Kara up, but she turned away once she was on her feet.

"Wait a sec," she told them, heading for one of the other rooms. He was absolutely floored when she returned with a sleepy and pajama-clad Kacey in her arms, carefully holding the little girl's head to keep her from looking at Leoben's body on the floor.

"Where we going?" Kacey asked, her little voice full of fear.

"We're getting out of here, honey. We've got a new home waiting for us."

"Where Daddy?"

Kara started walking up the stairs. "Daddy's not coming with us."

* * *

TBC... 


	6. the Exodus

The fact that the complex was practically coming down on their heads didn't make Kara's job of keeping Kacey calm any easier. She was relatively positive that Sam was about to explode with questions, but this wasn't the time or place.

"The transports are on the south side of the city," Sharon told them as they finally made it outside to the hellish firefight that was shaping up in New Caprica City. "If we can make it there, I've got a Raptor with my name on the pilot's seat."

She and Sam already had guns out, and he reached to hand one to Kara as well, ignoring the fact that her arms were currently full with a crying blonde toddler. Kara gave him a Look.

"Take it, or you sign both of your death certificates." There was a certain amount logic to that that she couldn't deny. Shifting Kacey to her left hip, she took the gun with her right hand, and they began trying to make their way past the Centurions that had been let loose on the city.

They rounded a corner between two tents, and Kara didn't even have time to shout a warning as she noticed the Centurion up ahead. The metal monster fired its weapons at almost exactly the same time that Kara fired hers. One bullet just barely missed her shoulder – but it and two others solidly found their mark in a target standing just behind her. Sharon kept firing until the Centurion went down for good, while Kara turned to her fallen husband.

"That thing's a crappy shot," he choked out. "Didn't even scratch you." She set Kacey down on her feet and started checking the ex-C-Buck's wounds.

"It's not that bad," she told him as she tried putting pressure on the holes in his torso and arm. "Frakking crybaby." He cracked a smile.

"Gods, you're a horrible liar."

"I'll work on that," Kara shot back. "Come on, we're getting you to a ship and back to Galactica, and Cottle can fix you up good as new. He really likes it when he pulls stuff like this off. He'll be frakking insufferable for weeks."

Sharon finished a quick check of their surroundings to make sure they were clear, and then returned to help Kara stand Sam up. The bio-Cylon was more than capable of supporting his weight by herself once they got him on her feet.

Kara turned to get Kacey, and realized that little girl wasn't where she'd left her. She was several steps away, staring down a small aisle between the tents that surrounded them. "Kacey!" she called, hurriedly moving forward to pick her up; the little girl was completely out in the open. Her heart stopped as she realized what her daughter was looking at: a Centurion. The metal monster just stared at the child for a horribly long moment, then flipped its gun back and turned and walked away. Kacey smiled.

Kara scooped her up in her arms and turned back to where Sharon and Sam were standing, having seen the whole episode. "What the frak just happened?" Sam asked.

"Just move," Kara ordered. She and Sharon shared a look before the other woman actually obeyed – she understood what Kacey was. And both Colonial pilots were hoping that the little girl would increase the odds of all of them still being alive when they got to a transport.

* * *

Racetrack was antsy as hell by the time they finally arrived at the Raptor. "We were this frakking close to leaving without you," she told Sharon as the Cylon slid into the pilot's seat. 

Kara had been left to deal with both Anders and Kacey, and was quickly realizing she couldn't. "I see you found yourself another fine mess, huh?" a voice asked Sam, and Kara was surprised to see a one-eyed Saul Tigh take Anders' arm and help him down to the floor of the Raptor.

Sam coughed, and Kara pretended that she didn't see the blood that was now spattered on his lips. "Damn right," he replied with a little bit of a grin.

Tigh looked up at Kara, retaking his seat at the ECO console. "I thought he'd lost his mind when he started talking about running off to find you. Never thought…It's good to see you're in one piece."

She nodded. "Likewise, Sir."

Ellen Tigh was beside her husband, and offered a little smile to the whimpering toddler in Kara's arms. "Did you pick her up along the way?" she quietly asked.

Kara and Anders shared a look as she sat down on the floor as well, Kacey cuddled in her arms. "Yeah, something like that," she replied, looking toward the floor. "Her father told me that I should do whatever I thought she needed, and…she needed to get out of there."

Sharon and Racetrack were good at their jobs; they managed to successfully plot a jump from only a few feet off of the surface up into the cloud that surrounded the planet. Adjusting the ship's scanners revealed the location of a large object hiding in the mist, and then Kara found herself forced to blink back tears as she realized the spots of gold in front of them were the lights on the Galactica's port-side landing pod.

She was home.

* * *

TBC... 


	7. Home

All the ships they'd retrieved the launch keys for had jumped away to a rendezvous point, but Galactica had remained as a safe port for all of the Raptors and shuttles that had been dispatched to the surface of New Caprica. Once Galactica safely reached the rendezvous point as well, those ships cluttered the Battlestar's hangar bays as they unloaded their cargo.

Kara was pretty sure shock had set in by the time the hatch was opened. She'd gotten out of the way while a medical team collected Sam, and he'd held her hand for a brief moment before they whisked him off to the Life Station, but then she'd shrunk back and became a simple observer of everything else going on around her. The whole fleet was euphoric with their success, but Kara felt completely detached from it all. At least until a little voice broke through.

"Mommy?" She looked down at Kacey, almost as though she hadn't realized that the child was still in her arms. "Where are we?"

It still felt like her brain was running in slow motion. As smart as Kacey was, how could she explain that they'd just escaped from a prison the little girl hadn't even known existed? "We're home." Kara finally said. "This ship is where I lived for a long time before you were born."

"Where Daddy?"

"He…you're probably not going to see him again." _At least I can pray that's true._

"Ever?"

Kara sighed. "You know how it took a while before you and he found me?" Kacey nodded. "Well now you and I are going to live here, and I know he's going to look for us, but it might take a long while before he can find us. But you're safe here. You're safe with me."

Kacey looked down, playing with the strings on Kara's shirt. "Promise?"

She kissed the little girl's forehead. "I do. We're going to be okay."

Kara looked up at the sound of footsteps approaching her place at the back of the Raptor. Tears started to well once more as her eyes locked with Adama's. Neither one of them could say anything for a long moment before he finally pulled her into his arms. "You've got to stop doing this to an old man," he whispered to her.

"Yes, Sir."

His smile faltered for a moment as he stepped back, looking for the first time at what she was holding, and she wondered how much he knew without her having to say it. "Who is this?" Adama simply asked. It wasn't hard to see the resemblance.

"This is Kacey," she answered, smiling encouragingly at the little girl. "Kacey, this is your grandfather – if you agree, Sir."

The little girl looked a fair bit like her mother, but there was something else in her features, something Adama almost recognized from someone years earlier. He knew there would be much to talk about later, but wasn't going to turn away the gift that Kara was offering him. "I always wanted to be one of those," he accepted with a smile.

"Can you say hi?" Kara whispered to Kacey. She watched Adama for a moment before she pulled her fingers out of her mouth and lived up to the meaning of her name.

"Hi," the toddler bravely whispered.

Representatives of three races stood together on that Battlestar's hangar deck. Life would never be the same for any of them.

* * *

There was a long line through the Life Station as New Caprica's evacuees were checked out by any members of the medical staff that weren't in the middle of critical surgery on the more badly injured survivors, like Anders. There was no word on his condition yet; Kara just hoped the Gods were still listening to her prayers.

She smiled to herself as she watched Kacey's undeniable adorableness crack through Cottle's gruff shell. The doctor kindly kept her amused while he checked her out.

"All right, you're next," he told Kara as he turned to her, eyebrow raised as he dared her to complain. Much to his surprise, she didn't say a word as she sat down on the bed. "Anything that I should know about?"

"Nope."

Cottle scoffed. "So I get to find the scars myself again?" Kara didn't reply. "How's the knee?"

"It's been fine since I haven't been on a pyramid court lately."

The doctor nodded, and then looked her straight in the eye. "Do I need to get someone to do a GYN exam?" That got her attention.

"No. He didn't – They didn't do anything like that to me. I'm fine, really."

He finally nodded. "I'm going to have to get some blood samples from both of you. Just to check for any illnesses…" He paused, looking to Kacey for a moment. "I can run a DNA scan while I'm at it, if you'd like me to."

Kara looked down at the little girl, wondering if she knew what they were talking about. "Yeah, go ahead," she finally told the doctor. It wasn't that she doubted, not anymore, but still…she just needed something else to verify what she already knew.

"All right," Cottle said as he finished, "I've got far sicker people around here than you, so I need the bed. Go get some food in you or something; I'll let you know how that boy of yours is doing as soon as I've got something to tell you."

She shook her head. "I want to wait."

"I don't care. I don't need you cluttering up my sickbay, and this little one certainly doesn't need to be here. I'll get word to you, now go on."

* * *

Kara wasn't exactly sure where she was supposed to go. She didn't have a bunk on the ship anymore, and even if she did, the pilots' barracks were no place for Kacey. She and Sam had lived there for a few months when she'd first brought him back from Caprica, before they went down to the surface, but she had someone else to worry about now.

"Are you hungry?" she asked Kacey as they made their way to the mess hall. The little girl shook her head, sleepily sucking her fingers. It was the middle of the night on New Caprica, and Kara had pulled her from bed in order to escape. "Sorry, honey," she told her. "I know you've got to be tired. I'm going to get you somewhere to sleep, okay? I'm going to take care of everything."

* * *

TBC... 


	8. Family Time

When Adama heard a knock on his hatch, he wasn't expecting to find Kara Thrace with a half-asleep toddler on her hip in the hall. "I'm sorry to bother you, I just didn't think taking her to the bunkroom was a smart plan, and I wasn't sure where to go instead…" Adama just nodded, leading her over to his couch. Kara laid Kacey down, and she almost instantly went to sleep. "Thank you…I can talk to Tigh or somebody about getting quarters – "

"I'll take care of it," Adama promised. "Don't worry."

Kara rubbed a hand over her face, looking down to Kacey. She was just as exhausted as the little girl, but still had to worry about what she was going to do with her daughter, and whether her husband would be okay, and what her life was about to become now that they were once more on the run.

Adama let the silence hang for a long moment before getting up and pouring two glasses of ambrosia. "I'll assume you've had a very interesting few months," he quietly commented as he handed one to Kara. She smiled slightly as she took a sip.

"That might be the understatement of the year, Sir."

He looked toward Kacey. "Is she a hybrid?" he got up the nerve to ask.

Kara didn't look at either of them as she nodded. "My little farm baby."

"Do they know you have her?"

"I'm sure it won't take her father long to figure it out."

Adama slowly nodded. "How old is she?"

"I'm not sure. Should be right about a year, but I know she was born early on purpose. And she looks older than she is on top of that."

"They used her for a science project?"

"I don't know what they were trying to do to her, or why. I just couldn't let them keep doing it."

* * *

It was extremely early in the morning when a call came for Kara to go down to the Life Station. Adama insisted that she leave Kacey with him instead of waking up the little girl to take her along.

"I think you married the only person from the colonies that's more stubborn than you are," Cottle told her as he met her at the door.

"Don't really see the drawback if it keeps us alive," she shot back. He snorted.

Anders was awake, although pale and exhausted. He smiled when he saw Kara beside his bed. "Hey, there."

"Hey yourself," she replied. "You know I would have kicked your ass if you went and died on me, right?" Anders chuckled, then winced.

"Ow. No laughing." Kara just smiled innocently. "So here we are again, huh? Life on the 'Big G'."

"Yeah," she quietly answered, taking his hand. "I missed it the past few months."

Anders reached up his free hand to tip her chin so she was looking him in the eye. "Did he hurt you?" he asked, voice low.

"No. He tried to manipulate me. He used Kacey to do it…I didn't want to turn into my mother. I had to protect her."

"You did," Sam assured her. "That…thing that took you – she's his, too?" Kara nodded. Sam smiled a bit. "Well, then, I guess she gets her looks from you."

In that moment, Kara just cracked. She put a hand over her face, but the sob escaped anyway. "Hey, hey, come here," Sam told her, trying to pull her into his arms. "Don't argue with the guy with holes in him," he scolded when he felt her resisting. He let her have her time to fall apart, not saying a word for several minutes until her shoulders stopped shaking.

"When are you getting out of here?" she asked, wiping her eyes.

"I dunno. Want to help me sneak out?"

Kara shook her head. "I've got to stay on Cottle's good side this week…if he has one."

"Wimp."

"The Old Man said he'd take care of making sure we have a place for you to come home to, whenever you do get sprung. All you've got to do now is get better."

Sam offered her a mock salute. "Yes, Sir."

* * *

Kacey had been somewhat shy with Adama when she first awakened, but by the time Kara came back from the Life Station, she'd significantly warmed up to the Admiral. They were having breakfast together at his desk when Kara arrived. "Looks like you two are having a good morning."

Adama smiled. "It's been a long time since I've been around someone so small."

"She keeping you on your toes?" Kara asked with a smile.

"Mmm. A lot like someone else I know."

Kacey wriggled off of Adama's lap, and toddled over to the couch. "Look!" she told her mother, picking up a small stuffed animal. Kara laughed.

"What's that, Kacey?"

"Black cat."

"Yes, it is a black cat. A Picon Panther, if I'm not mistaken." She raised an eyebrow at Adama. "Are you trying to compete with Sam for her planetary loyalties?"

He smiled. "Only if it's working. I thought she might like a stuffed animal, and happened to find that mascot packed away with some things from home." Kara smiled, sitting on the couch next to Kacey.

"Here's the deal," she told the little girl. "You remember Sam? The guy in the Raptor?" She nodded. "He doesn't like the black cat too much, because he usually had a lot of trouble beating it at a game. So no black cat around him, okay?"

Kacey grinned. "Okay."

"Tigh said he wanted to speak with you," Adama told Kara. "I think he was going to try and find you this morning."

"What about?"

"Plans for your squadrons, I'd assume."

She looked up, surprised. "So things are already back to business as usual, huh? Back to XO and CAG and CAPs and running?"

"I assumed you'd want to be reinstated. Everyone who moved down to New Caprica under Baltar's orders has been given that option. The fleet still needs to have a line of defense, and that line needs a leader."

"Didn't you already have a CAG? And an XO for that matter?"

"There are quite a few people that are going to have to deal with some reassignments. Helo will be an assistant to Saul. Perhaps two heads will make the job easier. The Air Group will need to be expanded once more; I'd like Kat to take command of the pilots on Pegasus. You will have overall leadership, as well as oversee training."

Kara shrugged. "I can live with that."

Adama smiled. "I'm so glad…How long are you going to wait before putting her in a cockpit?" he asked of Kacey. Kara looked to the little girl, who was still playing with the panther.

"Not sure…but her feet have to be able to reach the thruster pedals first. Maybe we'll start her off as a deckhand for the time being. What do you think, Kacey? You want to go and play with Vipers?" The little girl just giggled.

* * *

TBC...

Thanks to everyone who's sent reviews so far. They make my sucky world full of midterms a little happier.


	9. Back to Business

Adama watched Kacey for a little while longer while Kara spoke with Tigh. Once he was finished, she then had to find Kat. They needed to hold a briefing for all of their pilots so that everyone would know the new lay of the land. As they went over the squadron manifest, Kara quickly became painfully aware of how many people would probably need refreshers before they could be deemed combat ready.

"Those of us who stayed with the ship are good to go," Kat told her a bit frostily. Kara glanced up from the log she was holding.

"Don't even try that, Katraine; I'm currently reading your training reports. Everyone got out of practice in the year this ship was in orbit, and the hodge-podge squad you put together is decent, but nobody's 'good to go' yet."

"That include you, Sir?" Kat couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah," Kara fired back. "I wouldn't mind taking a few turns through a training course before getting everybody else out there."

"Captain Thrace?" she heard a voice ask, and turned to see one of the ship's Petty Officers entering the pilots' ready room and holding Kacey. "The Admiral was needed in the CIC, Sir. He said to bring her to you."

Kara reached for the toddler. "Thanks. Did you wear Grandpa out?" she asked Kacey, who silently sucked on her fingers, the picture of innocence. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Anyway," she turned back to Kat, "We need to come up with a training schedule that'll still let us keep the best possible CAP in the air at the same time."

Kat wasn't paying attention to the roster anymore. Her eyes were fixed on the image of the infamous Starbuck with a child on her hip. "Holy frak," she finally muttered. "A couple of the pilots said they saw you on deck, but…holy frak."

Kara rolled her eyes. "I've got to finish up a meeting, okay, honey?" she told Kacey, walking over to the first row of seats and depositing her into one. "And some people are easily distracted. You still got your panther?" She shook her head. Kara looked around the room quickly before noticing one of the Viper models that was normally used for planning combat tactics. "Here," she told the little girl, handing it to her. "If you play with this and let me and Kat get done, I'll go show you one of the real ones afterward, okay?"

"Okay."

Kat managed to pull her stare away as Kara rejoined her at the table. "I-is she yours?" the younger pilot asked.

"Yeah. Got plucked out of a cabbage patch back home and sent by Cylon air-mail to New Caprica. Can we get back to work now?"

* * *

Kara had known that the ship grapevine would be buzzing once she returned to the ship, but hadn't really wanted to think about it. She had enough to worry about without everybody else's opinions factoring in.

Once she and Kat had a schedule put together for the next week, Kara kept her promise and took Kacey over to her Viper. Tyrol was in charge of the deck crew again, although Cally had chosen to remain with Nicholas for the time being and return to work later.

"This is definitely something I've missed," Kara commented to the Chief as he walked over to her, running her hand along the nose of her Viper.

"Same here," he replied with a grin. "Most of the Mark Twos got mothballed again while the ship was in orbit; they're going to take a little bit of work. We'll get them all up and running again, though."

Kara nodded. "I'm not flying today, Chief. Just wanted to show a possible future Cadet around our little playground."

Tyrol's eyes met Kacey's, and the little girl offered an adorable grin he couldn't help but return. "I understand, Sir," he told Kara. "I'm trying to sneak wrenches into Nick's crib whenever his mom's not looking. Have fun."

* * *

Kacey normally wasn't a fan of naps, but it had been a long night, and a busy day. Once they had grabbed some lunch in the mess hall, Kara took her daughter to go see what Adama had managed to get together as far as quarters for them. Their room was supposed to be temporary housing, for when senior military officers or political personnel visited the ship, but these days, the only visitor they had to worry about was Laura Roslin, and her room practically had her name written on the door.

"What do you think, Kace?" Kara asked her as she shut the door and they looked around their new home. It was definitely smaller than the apartment on New Caprica, but luxurious for life on a Battlestar. A desk and couch were on one side of the room, with a small bed in the corner. A larger bed was on the opposite wall, and they even had a private bathroom. Kara smiled when she noticed that Adama's panther mascot was sitting on Kacey's bed. "Look what Grandpa gave you," she told the child.

Once Kacey was settled down for her nap, Kara kept looking around. Paperwork on schedules and training plans had been brought up from the pilots' ready room. Captain's pips for her dress uniform were sitting on the desk, and Kara just fingered them for a moment.

She'd wrestled long and hard with the decision to leave Galactica a year earlier and make a 'normal' life on New Caprica with Sam. She'd seen how much he'd missed things from home. Samuel Anders was the kind of person that needed a battle to fight on a daily basis, be it against the Cylons or on a pyramid court. Life within the slowly dying fleet wasn't enough for him. So Kara had left the place that had been her home for three years, left the military behind, and separated herself from the people that had been her family. Leaving 'the Old Man' had been especially hard, but he'd told her he understood and wished her well. Lee had been…himself, which had led to yelling and punches, and things only went downhill from there.

Kara turned away from the desk when she heard a knock on the hatch. Glancing over to make sure that Kacey was still asleep, she went to open it, expecting to find one of her pilots with a question, or the Old Man just checking up on her. She definitely did not anticipate finding Commander Lee Adama standing in the hallway.

"What are you doing here?" she asked before she could stop herself. "I mean – "

Lee just held up a hand. "It's all right. I had a meeting with my father, and he mentioned that you were back and would be taking over command of the Air Group."

"I think he's supposed to be sending Kat to you. I'll be coordinating with her; she can keep you up to date on our status."

Lee nodded briskly, obviously uncomfortable and debating whether or not he should make the comment that was on the tip of his tongue. "I assume that Anders returned with you as well?" he asked, barely civil. Kara rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, he's down in the Life Station at the moment, but I'll let him know that you were concerned for his welfare."

Lee scoffed. "Right. And I'll tell Dee the same of you."

A scathing reply was already on its way out of Kara's mouth when another voice broke in. "Mommy?" Kacey asked, having gotten out of bed and made her way over to the door. Lee stared at her in shock. He couldn't think of any kind of math calculation that would allow for Kara to have had a child that was that old, and yet a miniature Starbuck was looking back at him. "Who's that?" she asked Kara.

She looked to Lee, eyes cold. "No one, honey. I'm sorry we woke you up."

Kacey wasn't concerned with sleeping anymore. "See my cat?" she asked Lee, holding up her panther. Before she could get close enough to him, Kara picked Kacey up off the ground, holding her on her hip – and away from Lee.

"I need to put her back to bed," she told her ex-best friend.

"She called you Mommy," Lee pointed out.

"Good observation skills."

"But you're not, right? I mean…"

"Go back to your ship, Sir."

"Kara – "

But she wasn't going to have this conversation. Not now. Kara closed the door without another word, and took Kacey back to her bed.

* * *

TBC... 


	10. Grapevine

Lee Adama was NOT a happy man by the time he got down to the ship's hangar deck. He had a sinking feeling about where that little girl had come from, and wasn't sure if confirmation would make things better or worse. Kara hadn't shared much about her experiences on Caprica twenty months earlier, but she had reported on Cylon breeding farms where they used humans to create a race of hybrids. Generally such detailed intel could only be gathered in one way.

Kat was waiting in the Raptor that would be taking him back over to Pegasus, a duffle bag at her feet. "Welcome to the crew of 'the Beast'," Lee told her as he took a seat.

"Thank you, Sir," she automatically replied, her voice dull.

"Not pleased with the transfer?" Lee guessed. Kat looked at him for a moment, considering whether or not to lie.

"No, Sir," she finally answered.

"Sorry to hear that, Captain." They could have remained in silence for the rest of the flight, but Lee couldn't help himself. "I heard you'll be coordinating patrols and training runs with Captain Thrace?"

"Yeah. The squadrons will alternate shifts between the two ships, and team up as needed for ops. The Old Man put her back in control of the training schedule, though."

"You disagree?"

"There's more and better equipment on the Pegasus," Kat explained, and Lee couldn't argue. "He probably just wants her close by so he can keep an eye on that kid."

Bingo. Lee tried to look disparaging. "What's got the grapevine buzzing this time?"

"It's nothing, Sir, just…People think that kid she brought back is a hybrid. It doesn't take a degree in math to figure out that it just doesn't add up. Starbuck was apparently only held by the toasters for four months. You don't get a toddler in four months."

"Kara was held by the Cylons?" Lee couldn't help but ask.

Kat turned to him. "You didn't know? From what I heard, one of them dragged her off the day they landed, and no one saw her again until she arrived on Galactica with Lieutenant Toaster."

"Messed up math or not, one look at that kid and you know it's hers."

Kat raised an eyebrow. "It's not a kid, Sir. It's a toaster, half-human or not. The thing should be in a cage until someone figures out what it's for. For all we know, it's a bomb."

Lee looked away from her. "Right."

* * *

Kara decided she wasn't leaving her quarters for dinner; she didn't know if Lee was still on the ship or not, but she really didn't feel like dealing with him. She got one of her pilots that still owed her from a card game down on New Caprica to bring up two plates from the mess hall, and she and Kacey enjoyed dinner together in peace.

By the next morning, however, hiding was no longer an option. She needed to go spend some time with Sam, and eventually had to get down to the deck for an afternoon briefing with her pilots.

"I was wondering what had happened to you," Sam said as he saw Kara come into his corner of the Life Station, holding Kacey.

"Yesterday afternoon got a little rough," she told him.

"I see. Is today going better?"

"So far."

"That's good. Hey, Kacey," he said to the little girl, curling a finger at her to get her to lean over. "I'm busting out of here today; want to help?"

"No, she does not," Kara answered for her, making the little girl laugh. "You got shot, like, 36 hours ago, Sam. I think that'd probably make the Doc want to keep you around here for a bit longer."

"I didn't want to have to keep him 36 hours ago," Cottle cut in as he approached. "Frankly, he's a more annoying patient than you are, Thrace."

Sam smiled. "She taught me well."

"Amazingly, all the bullets missed the important stuff," Cottle told them. "If you stop being a pain in my ass for the rest of the day, I'll see about letting you sleep in your own bed tonight. But only if you agree to remaining there for a few days. And you stop being a pain in my ass."

"This kid's going to be swearing like a marine before she's even two," Sam told Kara, looking to Kacey who'd been intently listening to the whole conversation.

Kara shrugged. "We're on a Battlestar. That was a given."

* * *

They stayed in the Life Station for most of the morning, talking about their quarters and fleet happenings. Lunch was an interesting plate of slop that Sam had just as much fun poking at as Kacey did. Kara finally got up to leave and take the child to stay with Adama while she was at her briefing.

"Captain Thrace," Cottle called to her as he saw her heading for the door, and held up an envelope. Kara hesitated a moment before taking it.

"Thanks," she told him.

She stopped by her quarters on the way to Adama's to get a few things for Kacey, and left the envelope sitting on the desk. She would read it later, Kara told herself. The results wouldn't change anything in the next couple of hours.


	11. the Envelope

By the time Kara finally got finished with her pilots and figuring out how everyone would help out with maintenance, it was almost dinnertime and Kacey was hungry. Adama joined them in the mess hall, where they got a few stares, but she pretended not to notice.

Back in their quarters, Kacey made a big show of hiding her panther under her pillow so Sam wouldn't see it. Kara kept busy trying to make sure they'd all have clothes to wear the next day – the exodus from New Caprica had been rushed enough that nearly everything they owned had been left behind. She also worked on lining up someone to watch Kacey while she was supposed to be flying. Anders wasn't supposed to be getting out of bed for a couple days, so running around after a toddler wasn't the best plan. Helo didn't mind having baby-sitter duties; he figured Kacey could visit with Sharon, a little piece of her old life mixed in with the new.

Just before she could think about opening the envelope with the test results, a call came through the overhead for her to report to the Life Station. "Hey, kiddo, ready to go rescue Sam from the Doc?"

"Yeah!!"

* * *

The scene that unfolded in their quarters that night was surprisingly domestic. All three of them stretched out on Kara and Anders' bed together with Kacey chattering away about the book that Adama had been reading to her earlier. The story hadn't been meant for children, but as far as Kara could tell, he'd done a good job censoring and at least she was learning about the civilization that had occupied the Colonies for the centuries before her birth.

Kacey finally fell asleep, curled up between them, and Kara was too tired to get up and put her in her own bed. "This place isn't exactly conducive to trying to give her siblings, huh?" Sam quietly asked with a grin, looking around at their quarters. Kara wasn't amused.

"Why aren't you freaking out about this?" she asked him. "I mean…you've got no connection to her, and you certainly don't have to accept her."

"And you did?"

"I really didn't want to at first, but…I just couldn't hold her father's sins against her. She didn't ask to be born."

Sam was quiet for a long moment. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"If we hadn't pulled out so fast when you got shot on Caprica, maybe we could have been able to grab you, to save you from going to that frakking farm. None of this would have happened."

Kara looked over to the desk. "There's an envelope over there with a piece of paper inside that tells me whether or not Kacey's got my DNA. And I haven't been able to make myself go open it."

"Why not?"

Kara bit her lip. "Because…because I'm afraid it's going to say that she doesn't…How did this happen, Sam? How did I become someone's mother? It's not just DNA, that's the easy part. I have no idea how I'm going to take care of her, but I can't imagine not trying."

He took her hand. "We'll figure it out."

"What is she going to say one day when she's old enough to understand the truth? I don't think there's a more frakked up way for a kid to come into existence."

"You might not have asked for her, but you haven't abandoned her, either. She'll know that."

Kara sighed. "I'm going to frak this up, just like everything else."

"You won't. She's going to grow up amazing. All you have to do is love her; the rest you can make up as you go along…Go get that envelope." She hesitated a moment, but got up off of the bed and went over to the desk. "Do you need to open it?"

She considered it for a long moment, and finally shook her head. "No. I know she's mine." Taking the envelope in both hands, she ripped it in half, then again, and dropped the pieces in the trash can.

* * *

Kara got up the next morning and reinstated her old tradition of running on the Galactica's decks. She was definitely out of form, but it was somewhat calming to be one of the few people up and about on the ship that early in the day. It brought a sense of normalcy, a reminder of what life had been like before everything went to hell and back – twice.

"What do you hear?" Adama asked her as she fell into step beside him on his way to CIC.

"Nothing but the rain."

"First day back in a cockpit?"

"Yes, Sir."

Adama smiled. "Good. Enjoy yourself."

Kara laughed. "I'm definitely planning on it."

* * *

TBC... 


	12. Cybrid

**A/N: Obviously, this is now gonna be totally AU from the series. I'm still mad about the end of episode four, so I'm retreating to my happy little fanfic universe where everything goes exactly the way I want it to. Thanks to everyone who's also coming along for the ride and has left me feedback. Comments, concerns, and questions are very much appreciated **

* * *

Sam and Kacey were still asleep when she got back, so Kara was able to take a shower and get dressed in peace. Once she was ready, she started getting Kacey's clothes together, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Helo was in the hall.

"You're early," Kara told him. He was supposed to be babysitting Kacey for the morning.

"Tigh wants me over on the Pegasus this morning; we're trying to do crew coordination. I would have given you more notice if I had it."

Kara nodded. "I know. I'll find someone else."

"Sorry," Helo told her as he headed back down the hall.

"What's the matter?" Sam sleepily asked as Kara shut the door.

"I need to find someone else to watch Kacey."

"Just leave her here."

"You're supposed to be recovering, not chasing after a little girl. There's gotta be someone else not on shift who wouldn't mind."

"You could always stop by the Tigh's quarters."

She sent him a murderous look. "For frak's sake, I am NOT leaving her with Ellen."

Sam laughed. "I can take care of her Kara, I swear. I'm doing better. You can even make jokes without causing pain."

She sighed. There really wasn't a better alternative at the moment. "I just don't want you to wind up back in the Life Station."

"Your concern is noted. Now go get your ass in a plane."

* * *

After breakfast in the mess – and after Sam cleaned breakfast off of Kacey's face – he decided a little walking tour of the hangar deck might be fun. Growing up on Galactica, the kid was destined to work with fighters in some capacity, so why not start her early? 

"You're going to really have to impress Mommy before she lets you in one of those," Sam told her, pointing to one of the MarkVII fighters that was by the ladder down to the deck. "Those aren't for your average nugget."

"Raptors are better anyway," Sharon said as she approached them. She was in off-duty tanks and sweats, having been doing some maintenance. "What are you guys doing down here?"

"Oh, we're just poking around a bit while Kara's on duty."

"How are you doing?" she asked him. Sam smiled.

"The Doc's got some REALLY nice pills. Okay, Kacey, which planes do you like better? Vipers or Raptors?"

The little girl grinned. "Vipers!"

Sharon rolled her eyes. "You guys are corrupting the poor girl already."

"I think Kara's already gotten her in a cockpit."

"Why am I not surprised? Come here, sweetie," she told Kacey, picking her up. "You want the grand tour from an actual pilot?"

Sam pretended to stab himself in the shoulder. "That cut deep."

"Right, C-Buck."

* * *

They walked around the deck together, looking at the Vipers and Raptors and random parts that were lying around. One of the MarkIIs was getting a total engine overhaul, and Kacey giggled as she watched them use a crane to lift the huge piece of machinery up to its spot on the fighter. 

"Okay, last but not least," Sharon told her as they walked over to a just-arrived Raptor. "This girl just came over from Pegasus. Brought the Commander for a meeting with the Admiral."

"Grandpa?" Kacey asked.

Sharon smiled. "Yeah. Admiral Grandpa."

"Hey," a voice yelled, and Sharon looked up to see that the Raptor's pilot and ECO were standing in the craft's hatch. "Get the frak away from my ship." She put Kacey down.

"What's your deal?" Anders asked, stepping forward, but Sharon lightly put a hand on his chest to stop him.

"Just leave it."

"Why don't you take your own advice?" the other pilot suggested. "And leave."

"They might have let you out of that cage, dressed you up all nice and pretty in a uniform, and put pips on your collar," the first continued, "But you're still nothing but a Gods damn skin-job."

"Skin-job or not, as you so eloquently put it," Sam spat, "She risked herself to save a lot of people on New Caprica."

"Yeah, right, like they were actually going to kill her."

"Sam, let's just go," Sharon said. "They're not worth your time. Come on, Kacey." She reached for the little girl's hand.

"Yeah, you and the frakking Cybrid get out of here." That was the last straw.

"What did you call her?" Sam asked.

"A. Frakking. Cybrid," he clearly annunciated. "The thing is an abomination."

"Don't let me hear you call her that again. And you REALLY don't ever want to let her mother hear you call her that."

"If she can't handle the truth, she shouldn't have brought the thing back to the ship. Just the idea of somebody making a toaster baby is an insult to the Gods." Sharon was done taking the high road.

"And I'm sure God would be thrilled with you right about now," she shot.

She'd underestimated how far away she would need to be to be out of the ECO's arm's reach. His fist shot out and solidly connected with her face. Anders completely forgot about the fact that he had a few bullet holes in his side until he felt the retaliation for the punch he landed.

A few of the deckhands came over to try and break them up, but it took several moments before everyone was pulled back to respective corners. "What the frak is going on?" Hotdog asked as he walked up. All four of them were bruised and bleeding.

"I don't need a frakking skin-job talking to me about the Gods."

He looked between the two sides of the fight. "Right, I get it. How about you guys take a little walk with the marines when they get here." He then moved over to Sharon and Anders, the latter of which wasn't looking so good. "You okay?"

"I'll get back to you on that," he muttered.

Sharon wiped the blood from her split lip, looking around. "Wait, where's Kacey?" Sam turned around as well, but the toddler was nowhere in sight.

"Kacey?!" he called. "Kacey, come here. It's okay now." Nothing. Sharon bent over, looking to see if she was hiding under one of the nearby ships, but didn't see her anywhere around them.

"Grab everyone who's on deck at the moment and ask them to start looking," Sharon told Hotdog. "We need to find her, now."

* * *

TBC... 


	13. Fears

By the time Kara landed an hour later, there was still no trace of Kacey. Everyone was extremely worried that she would wind up getting hurt on the deck because somebody wouldn't see her in time. They'd warned all of the deckhands to be extra cautious as they worked, but the hangar was no place for a toddler to be wandering alone.

"Did anyone see her?" Kara asked Sharon as they checked the inside of the fighters that were on the deck.

"Everyone was a little preoccupied…Kara, I'm sorry."

She nodded. "I know."

* * *

Lee had been rather irritated to hear WHY his pilots wouldn't be able to fly him back over to Pegasus. He agreed with the decision to throw them in the brig for the day, but that meant that for the moment, since he wasn't cleared to fly, he was stuck on the Galactica. He'd seen the others looking around for Kacey, and considered joining in, but instead decided to just wait in the pilots' ready room until someone was able to take him back to his ship.

He'd just sat down in one of the front row seats when he heard a noise behind him. After a moment, he heard it again, a little sniffle. Standing up, Lee looked between the rows of seats and behind the table. Only once he'd bent over did he notice the little bit of color underneath one of the seats.

"Kacey?" She slid backwards to another row of seats, futilely trying to get out of sight. "Hey, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." She still didn't move. "Frak," he muttered. "Come out, Kacey. Your – Kara's been looking for you everywhere."

"Are they still yelling?"

"Yelling? You mean those pilots? No, they're gone."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise. Get out from under there." She finally obeyed, still sniffling and rubbing at her red eyes. "We should go find your – your mom." Her little tear-stained face affected him more than he would have liked; he found himself pulling out a handkerchief for her. "Those guys scared you a little bit, huh?" he asked as he wiped her face.

"They were 'fraid, too. Of me."

Lee sighed. "Yeah, I guess they were…One thing you're going to have to understand is that most people around here don't like Cylons."

"Sharon?"

"Yeah, the vote's still out on that one…Some people like her more than others."

"Why?"

"It…it's harder for some people to try and trust her."

"Like you?"

"Yeah, like me."

"You 'fraid?"

Lee stared at her for a long moment. What was so scary about something so small? Kacey wasn't going to pull out a gun and shoot anyone. She'd captured Kara's heart, and he knew that couldn't have been an accident. But there was still so much about her that they didn't know. What was she capable of?

"A little," he finally answered. "Right now, we don't really know if somebody had some special purpose when they decided that you needed to be born. That purpose could be a good thing or a bad thing. Do you understand?"

Kacey nodded. "Love."

"What?"

She pointed to her chest. "Love," she repeated. "It can do anything, because of me."

"How do you know what love is, Kacey? How does any Cylon?"

"Daddy said I would know because of Mommy." And in that moment, Lee thought he understood. Love – real love – was something that didn't always make sense, like the ability to be a mother despite never having had one yourself, or the ability to love a toaster not in spite of the fact that they were a Cylon, but because of it, accepting it.

"You know what?" he asked Kacey. She raised an eyebrow, looking like a carbon copy of her mother. "I'm going to try not to be so afraid of you anymore." She smiled.

* * *

"Anything?" Kara called to Hotdog as the little search party gathered together in the middle of the hangar. He shook his head.

"She couldn't have just disappeared into thin air, right?" he asked. "Is that a Cylon thing?" Sharon shot him a glare. "Nevermind. Foot in mouth…"

"Kara!" Sam called to her, having noticed Lee coming out of the pilot's briefing room. She was pretty sure her mouth fell open when she noticed that he was actually holding Kacey.

"We have been looking everywhere for you!" she told the little girl. "I was worried you got hurt."

"Just needed to talk a little bit," Lee said, handing her over.

"Thank you," Kara told him. He shrugged.

"No problem. Think you could find me a pilot or two, considering mine are in your brig?"

Kara smiled. 'Yeah, I think that can be arranged. Hey, Racetrack?"

She was still suited up from being out earlier and nodded. "Yes, Sir." Lee stepped forward to follow her to her waiting Raptor.

"Bye," Kacey called after him. Lee gave her a wave before climbing up into the Raptor.

Kara hugged her. "I think you must be magic, kiddo."

* * *

TBC... 


	14. Decisions

There were a lot of things that the newly reborn fleet was dealing with, and Adama and Roslin discussed the day's events that evening in his quarters.

"Was anyone badly hurt?" Laura asked.

"No, luckily. One broken nose and a couple split lips were about the extent of it. Sharon knew this might happen; that not everyone would respect her."

"And what about Kacey?"

Adama took a sip of his ambrosia. "Those pilots would be spending more than just one night in the brig if they'd touched her. Hitting a woman is bad enough."

"She's not just a woman, though, Bill. And Kacey's not just a child. We knew before that a hybrid child could be a target, one that can't always be protected. Luckily, Kacey was just hiding of her own will, but someone could have taken her today, taken her somewhere that a few bad nicknames for her would be the least of her worries."

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm not sure…Word of her existence hasn't gotten farther than your Battlestars; she could find anonymity among the fleet."

"No. We're not stealing her away or faking her death and hiding her somewhere. I won't do that to Kara. Part of growing up for Kacey is going to have to be learning to accept others' intolerance."

"Can you protect her?" Roslin asked.

"I can do whatever she needs...but that begs the question of why we didn't do the same a year and half ago."

She sighed. "We know more now than we did then."

"Is that really an excuse?"

"It has to be."

* * *

That night, after Kacey was asleep, Sam waited for Kara to finish in the shower in order to talk with her. "You feel okay?" she asked as she sat down next to him on their bed.

"Yeah, just…I've been thinking about what happened. I am sorry."

"I know. Everyone's going to have to figure out what you do and don't do with a little kid onboard this ship." Sam looked down for a long moment.

"Are you sure this is the best thing for her?"

"What?"

"You can't think that those are the only two people between these two Battlestars that really just hate the idea of her existing. Right now, maybe she's too little to understand, but when she gets older…is that fair to her?"

"She understands, Sam. She understands a lot more than most people would give her credit for. Including you, apparently."

"I'm not trying to make you mad, just…maybe this isn't the best place for her. We could start over on one of the other ships; no one would have to know who we are, and no one would have to know what she is."

"I'm a pilot, Sam."

"Not for the last year."

"Yeah, I gave that up for you, for the life you wanted on New Caprica. We're not parked in orbit anymore; we're back to the war and back to running for our lives. I have responsibilities."

"As a soldier?"

"Yes."

"What about your responsibilities as a wife? As a mother?"

"I'm not the one who lost my kid in the middle of a fist fight!"

"No, I guess not. But that fight was over her, and I can guarantee it won't be the last."

"My life is here, Sam. This ship is my home. And Kacey's life is with me. I thought the same was true for you, too." He didn't respond.

* * *

Roslin and Adama had decided not to do anything about Hera/Isis at the moment. As far as they knew, Sharon and Helo had no clue about the truth, and taking Isis away from Maya would only hurt them both. However, the unanimity of their decision didn't mean that Roslin didn't still feel guilty about it.

A couple afternoons later, when she had some spare time in her afternoon, she took a shuttle over to the Sagittarian liner where Maya and Isis lived. The woman was still teaching, and Roslin found her in a stateroom full of the ship's children, giving a math lesson.

"I just wanted to visit," Laura whispered to the younger woman as she came into the room. "Don't let me interrupt." Maya smiled, turning her attention back to her class. Roslin slipped to the back, where Isis was quietly playing by herself with a tower of blocks.

"Hello, sweetie," she told the little girl.

"Hi."

Her life here was so normal, and so much better than many among the fleet. Yet it was all fake. Before boarding a shuttle on Colonial One, Roslin had decided that she had a way of clearing her conscience – if she knew that Isis had no recollection of the other life she'd so briefly lived, then leaving her with her new mother would obviously be the right choice.

"Can you look at something for me?" she quietly asked the child, and pulled a small picture out of her pocket. "Do you know who this is? Have you ever seen her before?"

Isis slowly got up from her blocks and looked at the photo of her mother – her real mother. She smiled as she nodded at Roslin. "You have?"

"When I sleeping," the toddler explained. "See her."

"You dream about her?" Laura asked. She received another nod.

"She loves me."

Roslin decided in that moment that her visit to the Sagittarian Liner never happened.

* * *

TBC... 


	15. Tradition

When Lee knocked on the hatch to his father's office a couple afternoons later, he was surprised to see the Admiral working on crayon drawings with Kacey at his desk. "Dad?"

"Come on in," Adama told him. "Kara had to fill in for one of her pilots on CAP, so I have an assistant for the afternoon."

"Drawing up battle plans?" Lee asked with a smile. Adama looked to the multi-colored scribbles on Kacey's paper.

"I sure hope not," he replied with a chuckle.

Another knock sounded on the frame of the Admiral's open hatch. The LSO was waiting with some files. "I guess I'm popular today," Adama told Lee as he stood, putting Kacey down on his chair, and went to talk with Captain Kelly.

"Pretty?" Kacey asked Lee, holding up her picture.

"Yep…I got something for you."

"Present?"

"Uh-huh. Have you ever had chocolate?" Kacey's eyes instantly lit up. "I'll take that as a yes," Lee said with a laugh. "When I was little, and my dad would come back from the other colonies, he'd bring candy or chocolate for me and my brother." Lee pulled a little baggie out of his pocket. "We'd always have to eat it in the backyard so our mom wouldn't see."

Kacey smiled, popping a little piece into her mouth. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Adama returned, smiling at the sight of the two of them together. "I need to borrow your playmate, Miss Kacey," he told the little girl. "Can you work on some more decorations for my walls while I talk to Lee?" She nodded.

Lee got up and joined his father over on the couch. "You're sneaking her sweets?" the Admiral asked.

"Figured I'd pass on the tradition. And the alternative would have been me eating them."

* * *

They went over the paperwork that Lee had brought from the Pegasus, discussing issues with each of their crews. The conversation eventually turned a little more personal. "Is she doing okay?" Lee asked, tipping his head in Kacey's direction. 

"There haven't been any other incidents. Kara's been keeping her behind closed doors more, though." Lee frowned.

"Really?"

"I have a feeling it wasn't totally her idea." He considered that for a moment. "How are you doing?" Adama continued. "How's Dee?"

"Not speaking to me at the moment, but I'm getting used to that."

"What happened?"

"The usual. Sometimes I wonder how we wound up together in the first place." Adama had often wondered the same thing, but didn't make that comment out loud.

Lee looked at the wall clock, "I should be getting back to the Pegasus," he told his father, standing up to leave. Kacey toddled over, holding one of her drawings. She presented the sheet of paper to Lee. "I like that blue," he told her, pointing to the color on the page.

She smiled. "For you."

"I can keep it?" She nodded. "Thank you."

Adama looked to the clock as well. "Kara should be getting off shift in a few minutes. Should we head down to find her?" he asked Kacey.

"I can take her," Lee said.

"You sure?"

"I'm going that way anyway."

Kacey ran over to give Adama a hug. "Bye-bye, Grandpa," she told him.

"Bye, Kacey."

Lee was stunned. "She thinks you're her grandfather?"

"Her mother's idea," the Admiral told his son. "Although I didn't complain." Kacey put her little hand inside of Lee's, and after he also said goodbye, they stepped out into the hall.

Lee wasn't even going to bother denying that he felt jealous. Cylon hybrid or not, Kara had been able to do something for his father that he hadn't. Now that he thought about it, he didn't even know if his wife wanted children, although he didn't really like the idea of having them with her anyway. For some reason that he wasn't going to admit to himself, he'd always pictured fair-haired little rugrats clamoring for his father's attention whenever he'd pictured the Old Man with grandkids – and now Kara had gone and done it, and without him.

* * *

Kara was just climbing down from her cockpit when they got to the hangar deck. Lee said his goodbyes before heading for the Raptor that was waiting for him, and Kara took Kacey back to their quarters. Things for her had been tense the past few days. Sam hadn't mentioned leaving Galactica again, but she was pretty sure he was simply waiting for the right opportunity. Kara hadn't wanted anything to happen that could give him ammunition against staying, so she'd been keeping Kacey close when she could. Eventually it would blow over, or so she hoped. 

Lee headed for his office when he got back to the Pegasus; he had a lot of work waiting for him. As he sat down, he remembered that he'd put Kacey's picture in his pocket. He removed the piece of paper and unfolded it, laying it out on his desk. The splash of color stood out between ordered piles of reports, bringing a slight smile to his face. He propped the drawing up against a picture frame already on his desk and got to work.

Dualla came in an hour or so later with the latest logs from the bridge. "Thank you," he told her. She just nodded once, and had started to turn around to leave when she noticed the picture. Her curiosity overruled her desire to keep up the silent treatment.

"What is that?"

"A crayon drawing."

She rolled her eyes. "I figured that out for myself, Lee. Where'd you get it?"

"Kacey made it. A thank you for bringing her some chocolate, I guess."

Dee raised an eyebrow. "The Cybrid?"

"She's a kid, Dee."

"Since when?" He didn't reply. "Oh, I get it. She's KARA's kid. Right? That's the only thing setting her apart from any other Cylon the fleet's found."

"That's not true."

"Sure, Sir," she shot back with a very sarcastic salute before leaving. Lee sighed. He'd probably be sleeping in his office again.

* * *

TBC... 


	16. Black Cat

That night, Kacey sat on her bed, playing with her panther and stealing a few glances at her mother and stepfather. Kara was busy with paperwork at her desk while Sam read a book in bed; they'd barely been talking to each other for the past few days, and Kacey had a feeling that that was at least partially her fault. She hadn't been left alone with Sam since the day of the fight on the deck; Kara always claimed it was because he needed time to heal and Kacey would wear him out. She didn't mind spending her time with Sharon or Helo or Adama instead, but was sad that she'd caused trouble.

When Sam got up to go to the bathroom, Kacey slid off of her bed and toddled over to her mother. "Hey, kiddo. What's up?" Kara asked her.

Kacey pushed her panther into her mother's hands. "Here."

"You don't want it anymore?" She shook her head. "Why not?"

She looked down. "So he won't be mad," she quietly admitted. Kara picked her up.

"Hey, listen to me. Sam is not mad at you, okay? If he's mad at anyone, it's me."

"Because of me."

"No, because…I don't even know why. It's a grown-up thing. We're stupid sometimes. But it is definitely, definitely not your fault."

"Promise?"

"Yes, I do."

Kacey wrapped her arms around her. "I love you, Mommy."

"I love you, too," she whispered. A couple weeks earlier, those words had been the most difficult things in the world for Kara to say aloud. She'd mocked Lee two years earlier for admitting them to her, and it had taken months before she could answer Sam when he said them. But Kacey was different.

Kara looked up when she realized that Sam was in the bathroom doorway. She had no idea how much of their conversation he'd heard, but from the look on his face, she figured it had been enough. "I'll be back," was all he said before heading out the door.

"How about we get you ready for bed?" she asked the little girl after a long moment. "You want your panther back?" Kacey shook her head no.

* * *

By the time Sam came back, Kara had given Kacey a bath and tucked her in and was just sitting on her bed, staring at nothing. Without a word, he started getting changing out of his clothes and into pajamas. "This has got to stop," Kara quietly spoke up. "I'm tired, Sam. We've all been through too much in the past few weeks and months to put ourselves through this, too."

"What do you suggest?"

"I don't know. You don't want to be here."

"And you don't want to leave."

Kara sighed. "Sounds like we have a problem."

"I don't belong on this ship, Kara. There's nothing for me to do here."

"At one point before we went down to New Caprica, we'd talked about you getting assigned to the marines."

"No, YOU talked about it…Were you ever happy on that planet?"

"Yeah, for a little while…But it was never home."

He slowly nodded. "Yeah…I guess a pyramid court wasn't going to change that, huh?"

Kara smiled slightly. "No, only a hangar deck."

* * *

Kacey's favorite babysitter, other than Adama, was Sharon. For some reason that probably stemmed from losing Hera, the Raptor pilot loved spending time with the little girl, and the feeling was mutual. Kacey spent the following afternoon with Sharon and Helo while Kara was on duty. In a surprisingly quick amount of time, Kacey colored pictures, ran around the room for the sheer fun of it, and made a small tower out of paper cubes that Helo had folded for her.

"Play game?" the little girl energetically asked once she'd grown tired of building. Helo laughed.

"Aren't you supposed to be taking a nap at some point?"

"No! Play game!"

"What do you want to play?" Sharon asked her. Kacey shrugged. "You could make up a story like the last time you were over. Where's your cat?"

"Gone."

"Did you lose it?" Helo asked.

Kacey shook her head. "It was bad." They exchanged a look, but didn't comment.

"Okay, how about hide and seek?" Helo asked. Both of them just stared. "You're telling me you've never played hide and seek?!?"

"I was never a child, Helo," Sharon pointed out.

"Oh…Right. Well, it's not that complicated. One person is 'it' and everyone else hides, and the first person has to find them."

"That's not a game; that's our lives," she told him.

"All right, ix-nay on the hide and seek…Simon Says? Wait, Nevermind. Forget I actually suggested that…" Sharon hid a grin. "I'm running out of ideas here. You think Kara would mind if we taught her to play Triad?"

"Yes!"

* * *

When Kara got back to her quarters that night after picking Kacey up, she was surprised to see that the room was empty. "Sam?" she called, thinking he was in the bathroom, but she didn't receive an answer. Putting Kacey down, she looked around the room and noticed a piece of paper on her desk.

_Went to visit a couple of the guys on the Geminon Liner. I'll be back in a day or two._

"Frak," Kara muttered to herself, sitting down on the chair. At the same time that she was furious with him for just getting up and leaving without telling her, she knew exactly why he'd done it. It was something she possibly would have done if the situation was reversed. The last line of the note was only a small comfort.

_We'll talk when I get back. I love you._

* * *

TBC... 


	17. Pegasus

Kara wasn't sure how much Kacey was used to being cooped up, but she thought a change of scenery might do them both some good. She needed to have a meeting with Kat, and decided to take a shuttle over to Pegasus instead of making the other ship's CAG come to Galactica. There had been a few raised eyebrows when they came into the pilot's training room, but no one was going to say anything in front of Kara. Pilots on both ships had a healthy respect for her right hook.

Kacey kept herself amused with a pad of paper and some crayons while the two pilots talked. Kara noticed, however, that Kat was sneaking a lot of looks at the little girl. "She's not gonna explode or anything," she told the younger pilot.

Kat glared. "You sure about that?"

"If I'm wrong, then I'll be arriving in hell with a surprised look on my face."

Before Kat could say something that would probably have had an end result of Kara going to the brig, the hatch opened. They both looked up as Lee came in the room. Kat went to attention and Kara started to do the same. "As you were," he told them both, just before he got attacked. Kacey wrapped both arms around his left leg, and looked up at him, smiling.

"Hi," she told him.

"Hello to you, too," he replied.

"Chocolate?" the little girl asked.

Lee laughed. "Oh, I see. You only like me for my candy."

"You're feeding her candy and no one saves any for me?" Kara asked.

"That was supposed to be a secret, kid," he quietly told Kacey. She just giggled.

"Are we done here?" Kat asked Kara. She didn't particularly feel like sticking around any longer than absolutely necessary.

"Yeah, you're done."

"What did I walk in on?" Lee asked once the younger pilot was gone.

"Nothing important…I guess we should probably head back to Galactica."

"Is Anders somewhere around here, too?" Kara sighed, turning to start packing up Kacey's stuff.

"No, he's not," she replied, her voice clipped. Her tone combined with the fact that Kara wasn't taking digs back let Lee know that something was up.

"You okay?" he asked, wondering to himself if he really wanted to know the answer.

"It's not your problem, Lee," Kara told him, reaching to pick up her daughter and leave. However, the little girl wouldn't let go of Lee's leg. "Kacey, come on." She shook her head.

Lee managed to pry the little girl's arms from around his knee and pick her up. "You want that chocolate bad, huh?" he asked her. "I'm sorry, kiddo, but I don't have any more right now."

"You don't go, too?" Kacey asked him. Lee frowned.

"What?"

"Everybody leaves. Not you, too." Kara couldn't meet Lee's eyes.

"Well, I live on this ship," he tried to explain, "And you and your mom live on Galactica. I'll come and visit the next time I'm over there, okay?" Kacey nodded. "Who else has left?"

"Daddy…and Sam."

"He's coming back, Kace," Kara spoke up. "He just went on a little trip, like we did today. He's coming back."

Lee looked up at her. "He left?"

She shot him a glare. "Give me my kid."

"Kara – "

"I am not frakking discussing this with you, Lee. My marriage is not your business."

He turned his attention to Kacey. "You listen to your mom, okay?" he told the little girl. "I'm sure everything'll be all right. And as for your Dad…you might miss him, but you're better off here without him. You've got a lot of people here that care about you. Okay?" She nodded, and Lee handed her over to Kara. "For what it's worth, which probably isn't a lot, I hope things are okay."

Kara sized him up for a few moments. "What changed, Lee? We went months without talking before the occupation, and now…"

"We're too good at hurting each other, I guess…I was angry and hurt a-and afraid for a long time, about a lot of things. But now I'm just tired of it all. This takes less energy."

Kara slowly nodded. "Thank you."

* * *

Even after Kara and Kacey had boarded a shuttle back to Galactica, Lee couldn't stop thinking about their visit. He didn't know a lot about Kara and Sam's relationship, other than that they'd seemed happy a year earlier. He'd been furious when she chose to give up her career in the fleet – however limited that career might be while orbiting New Caprica – in order to go play house on the surface. He'd never seen her so willingly put aside her ambitions, and he blamed Sam for changing the person that had been his best friend for so long. Both of them had seen the other's behavior as a betrayal, and things had spiraled downward from there. But now…

But now Starbuck was back. And Kara was a mother. And life wasn't as rosy as either she or Lee had originally imagined. He understood Kacey's fear of being left; he'd grown up with an often absentee father. Adama had always loved life in space more than being planetside, and his eldest son had eventually started to take it personally. Part of the reason he'd eventually joined the military was to figure out why his father had loved it so much.

Entering his quarters, he saw that Dee was there, working on reports. "Hey," he said.

"Hi."

"You had dinner yet?"

Dee shook her head. "Wasn't really hungry…I heard you had visitors today." Lee raised an eyebrow in question. "Once a communications officer, always a communications officer."

"She wasn't here to see me," Lee explained. "I…I went to find them myself."

Dee considered that. "You still care about her, even after everything she's put you through, don't you? And always will?"

He sighed. "She's my best friend. Always will be…But I didn't marry her."

She was quiet for a long moment. "Dinner sounds good."

* * *

TBC... 


	18. Change

The following morning, Lee made a point of acquiring some more candy, and planned a trip over to Galactica. He quickly checked in with his father before heading toward Helo and Sharon's quarters to see Kacey. He wasn't going to be friends with Sharon anytime soon, but he'd seen firsthand that his father's trust in her didn't seem to be misplaced. He could be civil.

"You want to come take a walk with me?" Lee asked Kacey as he knelt next to her seat on the Agathons' couch. "I've got a surprise for you." She nodded, putting down her toys.

Lee led her through the ship to the Galactica's observation deck; the room's large window offered a wonderful view of the fleet and the CAP that was on patrol. "You see those ships out there?" he asked. "Your mom's flying one of them."

Kacey smiled. "Viper!"

"Yep. Okay, for your surprise…" he pulled the little bag of candies out of his pocket. "These are called peppermints. And we'd better save a few for your mom this time, okay?"

"Okay. She'll be happy."

Lee smiled. "Yeah, I'm sure she will be…She hasn't been happy much lately, huh?"

Kacey shook her head. "My fault."

"Why do you say that?"

"I was bad…and he no like me anymore."

"I bet that's not true…When I was little, I used to think that my father didn't like me and my mom and brother all that much. He would be away for long periods of time, and I would miss him a lot."

"He leave you?"

"I thought he had, but really…he loved space, but he loved his family, too. He just couldn't have them both at the same time."

"So he leave?"

"Yeah. It might be hard to understand now, but I bet things will work out, okay?"

Kacey quietly contemplated that for a long moment, and then smiled up at Lee. "Mommy will be happy," she told him. From the look on her face, Lee wondered briefly if she knew something he didn't.

* * *

By the time they'd finished talking and stargazing, Kara's shift had ended and Kacey was getting sleepy, so Lee took her back to her quarters. Kara opened the hatch when he knocked. "I think it's someone's naptime," he quietly told her, gently transferring Kacey's half-asleep form from his arms to hers. She got her daughter tucked into her bed, then rejoined Lee by the door.

"Thank you for taking her," she told him. "I really mean it. Kacey likes you and…I know how big of a thing this is for you to accept her, to care about her."

"She's changed you, too," Lee replied. "You're a different person, Kara. I know things haven't been easy – "

"When are they ever?"

" – but you're really lucky to have her."

Kara turned back to look at her sleeping little girl. She WAS different now, in how she thought and her priorities. Someone else completely depended on her. It was terrifying and truly magnificent at the same time.

"Thank you," she told Lee, turning back to face him and realizing exactly how close they were standing to each other. Her hazel eyes met his blue ones, and on a frightening sudden impulse, they each moved forward slightly and their lips touched. Hesitant at first, the kiss deepened until both of them almost simultaneously realized what they were doing. "Oh my Gods…"

"I-I should go," Lee told her, and all she could do was nod.

Lee headed down the hallway, and Kara shut the door. There were so many reasons that what had just happened shouldn't have happened. Both of them were married for frak's sake! And yes, she was having problems, but that was no excuse. However, there'd been something so right about that moment, like a piece of the puzzle that had been missing for months suddenly clicked into place. And it kind of scared her.

* * *

That evening, Kara and Kacey were playing on the floor with the little girl's blocks when the door opened and Sam came in. "Hey, there," he told them.

Kara smiled, albeit a little apprehensively. "Hi," she replied. Kacey was silent, and Sam noticed.

"Hey, kiddo, I got something for you," he told her, reaching into the small duffle he was carrying. He pulled out a small honey-colored stuffed animal and offered it to her. "We don't really have an animal that represents the C-Bucks so well, but I used to have a dog that looked kind of like this when I lived on Caprica." Still without saying a word, Kacey reached up and took the toy.

"Thank you," Kara told her husband on behalf of her silent daughter. He nodded. "How was your trip?" she cautiously asked.

"Good. It was good to be able to see the guys – what's left of us."

"So…what happens now? You going to disappear again anytime soon?"

Sam sat down. "I'm sorry I left like that, I just…I wasn't sure how to say goodbye without it turning into a fight. And I don't want to fight with you, Kara, I really don't. You belong here, and there's no changing that…"

"But you don't?"

"I was talking with some people over on the liner…The president wants to put together a new civilian police force. Hopefully it'll stabilize day to day life on some of the ships. I think it would be a good opportunity."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I've kind of gotten in the habit of having something to work for, something more than just winning some stupid games. I want to try this, see if it works out. There's so much more to life in this fleet than just what happens on this ship. I could still stay here with you and with Kacey, but just have a job to go do during the day…What do you think?"

Kara wasn't sure what to say. They'd had a small police force in New Caprica before the Cylons came, but it had largely been unneeded. The NCP that had been set up during the occupation had been a joke, a source of more problems instead of a cure. Sam's job could possibly be more dangerous than her own. And yet…this was his olive branch. He'd tried to find a solution for them, and she couldn't throw it back in his face. She'd already messed up enough things, especially that afternoon.

"Sounds like it could work," she finally told him. "W-when do you start?"

Sam smiled. "I've got a couple more days to recuperate, spend some more time with you and Kacey. Maybe we can get off the ship for an afternoon, go visit the Intersun Liner or something?"

Kara nodded. "Maybe. I can check the schedule tomorrow."

* * *

She went running in the morning, traveling through the ship's halls at a punishing pace. The pain felt good, reminded her that she was still alive and she still could feel. When she got back to her quarters, she grabbed a shower and got dressed in her flight suit, then got clothes for Kacey.

"Time to wake up," Kara told her as she knelt beside her bed, shaking the toddler's shoulder. Instantly she realized that the little girl felt warm. "Hey, sweetie, when did you start feeling sick?"

"Mommy?" she whimpered, before dissolving into tears. Kara picked her up.

"Shh, everything's going to be okay. The Doc's going to make you feel better, I promise."

* * *

TBC... 


	19. Connected

After about a half-hour in the Life Station, Kara was quickly realizing that she'd made a promise that she might not be able to keep. Cottle had no idea what was wrong with the little girl – physically she was fine, but felt absolutely miserable. Her brain was much more active than a normal human toddler's but they had no idea if that was normal for Kacey or not. All he could do was try to keep her fever down while he ran some more tests.

"Hey, what's going on?" Helo asked his friend as he came into the room. Kara looked away from her daughter.

"Doc's not sure yet," she replied, her voice almost trembling. Helo was immediately concerned; truth be told, Kacey looked like hell.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Go down to the squad room and tell Hotdog he's in charge for the day. I think Midnight should be available to take my shift."

Helo nodded. "Got it."

"Um…Anders wasn't awake yet this morning when I got Kacey up, and all I was thinking about was getting her to the Doc, so – "

"I'll take care of it. Anything else?"

"Yeah…I need to see your wife."

* * *

Sharon arrived in the Life Station a half hour later, having been quickly filled in by Helo when he got back to their quarters. "Kara?" she asked her fellow pilot as she approached. "How is she?"

"About as good as she looks. Cottle's got no idea what's wrong with her. Do you?"

Sharon shook her head. "I'm not a doctor."

"But you're a Cylon…I know that she's different from humans, I just need to know how. Maybe that would give them a better idea of what's wrong."

Sharon nodded. "I can try."

One of the med techs brought over Kacey's latest test results. Most of it meant nothing to her – but the EEG readings gave her pause. "How long have her results been like this?" she asked.

"Since she was brought in."

Sharon turned to Kacey, taking the little girl's hand. "Hey, sweetie, can you look at me? Just focus on my voice, okay? Block out everything else in your mind; can you do that?" Kacey tried to obey. "You feel a little bit better?" She nodded slightly. "Good girl." Sharon turned to the med tech. "Keep talking to her, just give her something to concentrate on."

"What's going on?" Kara asked her.

"We've got a problem."

* * *

They very quickly pulled together a meeting in Adama's office with the Admiral, Tigh, and Helo. "There's a connection in every Cylon's mind to the overall data stream that we share," Sharon explained. "It's how we upload on death, and how information is shared quickly and easily. For the most part, I cut off my link when Helo and I were on Caprica – it can be used as a two-way connection and I didn't want to be tracked with it."

"Kacey has a link as well?" Adama asked.

"I wouldn't have thought so. Her body is more organic."

"I asked her once how she knows the things that she knows," Kara added in. "She said that she just did. Was that because of the link?"

"Probably," Sharon replied. "She's so young that she most likely doesn't realize what it is."

"If someone is using this connection to access her instead of the other way around, does that mean they know what she knows?" Tigh asked. "Like where we are?"

"I can't say for sure, but probably," Sharon replied. The Colonel looked to Adama, who nodded. Tigh got up and went to the phone.

"Put the fleet on alert," he told the officer who answered on the other end. "Tell everyone to keep their FTL's spun up."

"We need to cut the link," Adama told her. "The question is, how?"

"I don't think it was meant to be used as a two-direction connection," Sharon replied. "That's why she's getting sick now; her mind and body can't handle it. Giving her something to concentrate on keeps her mind focused on what's going on around her instead of on the data link, but it's just a temporary fix. Unless they disconnect."

"He's not going to give up," Kara cut in, voice low. Everyone turned to look at her. "Hurting her isn't one of his concerns, he just wants us back."

"That's not an option," Adama softly assured her.

"I don't know if Kacey would understand how to sever the link herself," Sharon told them. "I can try, but…" She looked away, deep in thought.

"What?" Helo asked her.

"If it doesn't work, I think I could link to her and do it myself."

* * *

When Kara got back to the Life Station with Sharon, Sam was sitting by Kacey's bed, talking to her. The little girl's attention instantly shifted to her mother and Sharon as she saw them come in the room. She reached her arms toward Kara.

"It's okay, I'm back now," she told her, taking Kacey's hand. "Sharon's going to try and make you feel better, okay?"

"Okay."

Sharon took Kara's spot next to Kacey. "Hey, sweetie. I need you to try to do something for me, okay? You're going to have to think about it really, really hard. You think you can do that?" She nodded.

Kara and Sam stepped back, moving just out of earshot. "What is going on?" he asked her. "Helo said before that she was sick, but no one knew much."

"It's Leoben. He's trying to connect to her, probably to find us. Her brain can't handle it."

"He's doing this to her on purpose?"

"Kara!" she heard Sharon call before she could answer. Turning back toward Kacey's bed, she realized that half the medical staff was running over. The little girl's body was trembling violently – she was seizing.

"Kacey? Kacey, can you hear me?" Kara asked her, taking her hand. "It's okay, honey, I'm right here, all right? I'm not going anywhere." Slowly, the tremors faded. "What happened?" Kara asked.

"We were getting close, just…she can't do it herself," Sharon replied.

The overhead speaker started blaring. "Action stations, action stations. Set condition one throughout the ship. Action stations, action stations. Prepare for FTL jump."

"They found us," Sam pointed out. The fleet had been ready, though, and all the ships quickly used their FTL engines to get away. Once they got through the jump, they were safe, but that would only be a temporary fixture.

"They're going to find us again," Sharon pointed out to Kara. "If they really want her, they're not going to stop."

She nodded. "What do you need?"

"A data cable. And a knife."

* * *

TBC... 


	20. Incomming

**AN: So, I decided that I liked Exodus Part 2 so much, I wanted to incorporate some of the events into my story...enjoy!**

* * *

Kara did her best to keep her voice from shaking as she talked to Kacey, distracting her, while Sharon and Cottle slit the little girl's arm and ran a thin cable up it. She'd winced as blood started to run down her arm, but hadn't ever looked away from her mother. 

"I'm ready," Sharon said once she'd repeated the procedure on herself. "Hey, Kace, look at me, okay? Just focus on me…" She closed her eyes, and reached out to the organic computer that was the little girl's brain.

Kara watched, biting her lip, as Sharon worked. She wondered if Leoben would actually risk killing Kacey in order to keep her. Would she download and wind up back on New Caprica? Or would she simply die? The idea of an identical, empty little child's body waiting for her on that planet gave her chills.

_Lords, don't let her die, but if she does, don't let them have her…_

The ship's overhead began blaring again, calling for action stations. This time, however, pilots were supposed to be reporting to their fighters. "What's wrong?" Sam asked Kara.

"I don't know…somebody must be having trouble with their FTL; we can't jump away yet." She was absolutely torn in that moment. Her squadrons needed her, but so did her daughter. How the frak was she supposed to decide between the two?

"Go," Sam quietly said. "This is why you're here, isn't it? To be a pilot? I'll stay with Kacey. Go."

* * *

At the end of one of Galactica's starboard launch tubes, hell awaited. Three of the civilian ships hadn't been able to get their FTL engines online, so Galactica stayed behind to protect them. Pegasus had already jumped ahead to protect the other ships at the rendezvous point. Kara watched as the ship that had been launched beside hers got nailed by a raider before the pilot could even hit the turbo. 

Two basestars were showering Galactica with all the artillery they had – neither of them was paying a bit of attention to the civilian ships. They weren't after anyone else, Kara realized as she picked off two Raiders. They just wanted Galactica.

Kara whipped her Viper around as a Heavy Raider soared past her, heading straight down toward Galactica. She unleashed her guns on it, turning the enemy fighter into a fireball only seconds before it would have impacted the ship. Looking up to make sure no one was tailing her, she realized that the raider hadn't been alone – several ships were attempting kamikaze attacks on the Battlestar.

"Starbuck to all pilots," she yelled over the wireless. "Watch Galactica's back! They're using their frakking ships as weapons." It took every bit of skill that the squadron possessed to stop the Raiders, but Galactica was still in trouble.

Kara noticed the flashes of light that indicated that the other civilian ships had finally been able to get the hell out of dodge, but the call for the Vipers to return home never came. "Starbuck, Galactica; we're getting torn up out here." Another exploding Viper proved her point. "Request permission for immediate combat landings."

There was a pause, which she didn't like the sound of. "Request denied," a voice that sounded an awful lot like Helo told her. "Power to Galactica's FTL has been cut. All fighters are directed to continue their attack while repairs are attempted." Kara looked down at the ship, currently surrounded by a frighteningly impressive fireworks display. Things had been bad during the attack at Ragnar Anchorage, and they hadn't looked too good, either, during the fight to take out the Resurrection Ship, but she'd never seen Galactica that close to actually being overrun.

* * *

Sharon tried to keep herself upright as the ship pitched beneath her feet, bucking and rolling as the Cylon assault continued. Keeping her mind focused on Kacey was no easy task, but she had to. If they somehow managed to escape this fight, they wouldn't survive another battle so soon after. The little tracking beacon in the middle of the fleet had to be turned off. 

Working at the speed of thought, she quickly tried to figure out whether Leoben was still lurking in Kacey's mind and how much of a hold he had. She was almost unprepared when the little girl's link to the Cylon data network turned on full flow and she was nearly swept away in a tide of information. Leoben knew what she was doing – they all knew what she was doing. At some point, the knowledge filtered into her mind that if she died, she wouldn't ever wake up again. With this final act of treason, the Cylons had turned their backs on her.

* * *

Standing in Pegasus' CIC, Lee noticed when dradis registered that their three missing civilian ships had finally rejoined the rest of the fleet. However, the seconds continued to tick by and Galactica didn't follow suit. 

"The captain of the Pan Galactic Liner wishes to speak with you," his communications officer, Hoshi, spoke up. "He says…" the man put the phone back to his ear and listened for a moment. "He says he believes the Galactica is in trouble."

* * *

TBC... 


	21. Sacrifice

There were a lot of things that Kara could have been thinking about other than flying her fighter – the fate of Galactica, what was happening with Kacey, the pilots dying all around her – but splitting her attention probably would have gotten her killed. She was determined not to end up a burning wreck drifting dead in space; someone was waiting for her back on her ship.

A burst of fire streaking across space in front of her caught her eye, and for a terrifying moment, she thought the basestars had received backup, but she then realized that the salvo fire was coming from another battlestar – Pegasus. The ship steered into position to act as a shield for Galactica, putting itself between the wounded battlestar and the basestars. The Cylons pounced on their new target.

"Galactica, Starbuck; tell Pegasus we'll cover her squadron as they launch."

"Starbuck, Galactica; Pegasus isn't launching." They'd left their squadron behind to protect the fleet – although a couple dozen Vipers would be absolutely no match for a basestar if one happened to find them out there alone.

The Vipers divided their efforts between backing up Pegasus and continuing to defend Galactica. They'd taken heavy losses, but weren't giving up. Kara made mental note to praise the survivors when they finally landed.

* * *

Sam nervously watched Sharon as she stood beside Kacey. The Cylon's eyes were closed in deep concentration, while the little girl silently watched her, still as a statue. They'd been like that for several minutes, even as sparks flew from damaged consoles in the room and the ship rocked beneath them. All he could do was pray that whatever Sharon was doing, it was working. 

Sharon suddenly stood up straighter, opening her eyes. "It's done," she quietly said, pressing her hand to her forehead. She was now the one who didn't look so good.

"Are you all right?" Cottle asked as he walked up behind her, dodging a shower of sparks with a muttered curse. Sharon pulled the cable out of her arm.

"Yeah, I just – " She didn't get any farther than that before blacking out for a moment. Cottle led her to the next bed over.

"Just rest for a minute," the Doc told her, pressing a pad of gauze over the hole in her arm before turning to tend to Kacey.

"You feel better, kiddo?" Sam asked her as Cottle took the wire out of her arm and bandaged the hole that remained. Kacey didn't move. "Is she okay?" he asked the Doc.

Cottle checked her pulse, breathing, and eyes before looking up at him. "I honestly don't know."

* * *

"Galactica to all pilots: come on home," Helo finally called over the wireless. "I repeat, come on home. Combat landings authorized." 

"Roger that, Galactica," Kara replied. Out of the corner of her eye, as she brought her Viper around to make a run for home, she noticed a large explosion on Pegasus. The ship's starboard landing pod flew off, striking one of the attacking basestars. "Galactica, Starbuck; Pegasus has taken extreme damage! She will not be able to make the jump."

"Understood, Starbuck…That was the sacrifice they made."

Their combat landings were jarring, like always, but Kara barely felt it. The Pegasus had been offered up like a lamb in a battle that she had started by trying to save her daughter from the Cylons. Lives had been lost – people that flew for her and trusted her. They'd done everything they were supposed to, but they still weren't coming home.

"Captain?" she heard a voice ask, and looked to see that Tyrol was on the ladder to her Viper. The ship had jumped, and they'd brought her down into the hanger and gotten her canopy open without her even noticing. Kara pulled off her helmet and undid the collar-seal before climbing down to the ground. She started to leave, but then turned back to the deck chief.

"How many?" she asked him.

"Twelve," he replied, knowing what she meant. Out of the twenty-nine birds that had left his deck, twelve hadn't come back. "Could have been a lot worse," he told her.

As she walked off the deck, she decided that was a cold comfort.

* * *

Kara headed straight for the Life Station. Sharon and Sam were still with Kacey, but neither one of them looked happy. "Did it work?" she asked. They weren't going to survive another battle, not in the shape they were currently in. 

Sharon nodded. "It worked, but…she's not really awake. The Doc thinks her mind got over-stressed and kind of shut down to give her a rest."

Kara sat next to Kacey, taking her hand. "Hey, honey, I'm back. I'm going to stay right here with you, okay? So if you're tired, just go ahead and rest."

"Did we really lose the Pegasus?" Sharon quietly asked after a few moments of silence. Kara slowly nodded. "Were there survivors?"

"I…I don't know." She decided to stop asking questions at that point.

They all stayed with the little girl for the next hour, just waiting and hoping. Kacey's test results were normalizing, she just wouldn't wake up. Sam finally volunteered to go get Kara some food, since she hadn't eaten all day, and a couple of Kacey's toys to make her feel more at home and hopefully encourage her to wake up. Sharon remained behind, sitting with – and supporting – Kara. The Cylon was the first to notice when a person stepped into the opening of the curtain that surrounded Kacey's bed.

"Kara…"

She turned around, and just melted when she saw who her visitor was. Standing up, she wrapped both arms around Lee. He returned the embrace. Sharon slipped away to give them privacy.

"I thought you were dead," Kara whispered. Lee smiled.

"Yeah, but at least you weren't in hack this time."

She laughed slightly, although it mixed with a sob. "It's still good to be wrong, though. And I'm definitely used to it by now."

"Mommy?" a little voice asked, and they both turned to look at Kacey, who was finally truly awake and watching both of them.

"Oh, Gods. Hey, honey," Kara told her, sitting on the side of the bed and taking her hand. "How are you? Are you feeling better?" She nodded slightly. "Look who came to visit you." Kacey's attention shifted to Lee, and she smiled up at him.

"I heard you were very brave," he told her.

She looked back to Kara, her expression turning contemplative. "Mommy?"

"Yeah, honey?"

"Daddy's gone." Kara and Lee shared a look. Could she simply sense what Sharon had done within her mind, or was she talking about something else, something bigger?

"Yeah, he is," she finally told her daughter. "And you belong here with me."

None of them noticed that someone else was watching them from across the room. As he observed Kara and Lee together with Kacey, Sam wondered exactly how much he didn't know.

* * *

TBC... 


	22. Nightmares and Dreams

That night, Kara stood before her squadron of pilots in the briefing room. It was likely that by the following morning, she'd no longer be CAG, but she wanted to address them one last time before that happened. She needed to.

The room was emptier than usual, and the faces that looked back at her were sad and tired. "I'm proud of all of you," she finally began. "I know that our jobs aren't always fun…and some days they might not seem worthwhile, but we are the defenders of the fleet. Remember that always."

She held their looks for a long moment, letting that sink in, before calling "Attention!" Everyone got to their feet, hands raised to salute. "To Midnight, Poor-man, Whiplash, Ice, Chris, Joker, Hungry, Vapor, Barely, Whizzer, Chuck, and CLANG. Our friends and fellow warriors. May the Lords take in and bless their souls."

"So say we all."

* * *

Once his Raptor had been recovered after the battle, Lee had gone straight from the hangar deck on Galactica to the Life Station, barely pausing to talk to his father in-between. After it seemed clear that Kacey was out of the woods and Sam made a few thinly veiled efforts to mark his territory, Lee felt like his presence was no longer necessary. 

He needed to go have a serious talk with Adama about how they were going to integrate crews and figure out where he and his wife would be sleeping that night. He'd made sure that Dee would be on one of the first Raptors to leave the failing Pegasus while he stayed as long as possible to make sure the ship would be on a collision course with one of the Basestars. He hadn't seen her yet on Galactica, and knew he'd probably have a 'discussion' coming on his whereabouts for the past hour.

Lee knocked on the doorframe to his father's office and offered a small smile when the Admiral looked up. "Close the door," Adama quietly told his son. "Were you down in the Life Station?"

"Yeah. Sharon's plan worked, and Kacey should be okay." His father just nodded; he'd already heard about the former issue.

"Sit down, Lee." He obeyed. "I've been going through the survivor's list from Pegasus…Nine Raptors and three shuttles made it aboard."

He frowned. "What about the other five Raptors and the last shuttle?"

"We're still putting together the pieces…Just before Galactica's squadron landed, Kara reported that Pegasus had sustained enough damage that jumping would be impossible. Several of the pilots observed the starboard landing pod breaking away. From your pilot's reports, only one shuttle and three Raptors that launched from the starboard side actually made it to the rendezvous point."

A feeling like being doused in ice water washed over Lee. "W-which ships made it?"

Adama's eyes met his son's. "She wasn't on any of them."

* * *

Cottle released Kacey to sleep in her own bed that night. Her tests were nearly normal, and she was getting antsy in the Life Station. Once Kara was done on the hangar deck, she went to bring her little girl home. Sam was waiting for them when she arrived. They got Kacey tucked in and Kara went to take a shower. She found her husband sitting on their bed, reading, when she was done. 

"How'd your meeting go?" Sam asked.

"Good. I'm going to have to go see the Old Man in the morning. Right now we've got at least one too many of just about every position on the ship. I have a feeling there're going to be some demotions. We've already got two XO's, so Lee's probably going all the way back down to being CAG again. I'm sure he's missed flying, though."

"I think Raptors would be more his style these days," Sam couldn't help but mutter.

Kara gave him a Look. "He's getting back in flying shape. I'll kick his ass if he doesn't."

"Right."

"Kat and I would probably still each have a squadron…Maybe transfer a couple of the Pegasus pilots to me in order to even up the numbers."

"So you'd be taking orders from Lee?"

Kara smiled. "Well, he'd be my direct superior again. I never was so good at that taking orders thing, though." He didn't answer. I'm turning in; I want to go running before the meeting. You mind watching Kacey for the morning?"

"No problem."

* * *

As she slept, Kara found herself dreaming about flying. She wasn't in a Viper, though. It was some kind of vehicle she'd never seen before, and one that flew through the air instead of space. With a broad wing overtop of the four-person cockpit and an actual propeller-style engine like there were pictures of in history books back on the colonies. 

Seated in the right-side chair of the cockpit, the co-pilot's place, Kara was surprised to look up and see that Lee was sitting to her left, one hand comfortably holding the craft's control stick. "Quite a view, huh?" he asked her.

And it was. Looking out the window, she could see rolling hills speckled with trees that had been turned various colors by the magic of autumn. The landscape wasn't familiar, but it was spectacular. New Caprica had always been cold and grey and drab, nothing like the planet that it was named after. Kara hadn't realized how much she'd missed the time on her homeworld before the Cylons attacked.

"It's beautiful," she told him.

Lee smiled, looking over his right shoulder to the backseat. "Hey, Kacey," he said. Kara looked behind them as well, and was once again stunned. Her toddler daughter had grown up into this beautiful vision, a grade school girl with faintly curled blonde hair and eyes that sparkled as she smiled. "What do you think?" he asked her.

"Can I fly next time?" she asked. Lee laughed.

"We'll talk about that later. When your mom's not listening."

Kacey giggled. "Okay, Daddy."

* * *

Kara shot awake, sitting up in bed. She had no idea what the dream was supposed to mean; why would Kacey be calling Lee her father? Kara didn't even think she could see her daughter calling Sam 'Daddy' and at least he was her husband. 

Looking across the bedroom, she realized that the desk light was on. Kacey was in the chair, a crayon in hand, working on a picture. "What are you doing up?" she quietly asked the little girl.

"Coloring."

"You should be sleeping, not coloring. Come on, honey. Back to bed." She helped Kacey down from the chair and tucked her back into her bed. As she went back to the desk to turn off the light, she glimpsed down at the picture Kacey had made. Kara then got back into bed, deciding that she really needed some more sleep, because she could have sworn that Kacey's scribbles looked like the beautiful fall-colored hills she'd seen in her dream.

* * *

TBC... 

**A/N: Once upon a time, I liked Dee. Then Season 2.5 happened. If you still like her, please don't flame me; I did what had to be done.**


	23. Loss

**A/N: I was highly amused by most of the responses that I got to the last chapter. I'll apologize now to the K/A fans out there, because this isn't gonna stay a K/A story for much longer. You have been forewarned! 8-)  
**

* * *

Kacey was quiet the next morning while Sam got her socks and shoes on so they could go to breakfast. He eventually realized that she'd been quiet for the past couple of days, at least with him. 

"You ready to go?" he asked her, trying to see if he'd get a response. Kacey slid off her bed, and obediently reached up to take his outstretched hand, but didn't say a word. "Okay, kiddo, what's going on?" he asked. She looked up at him, but wouldn't answer. "Am I not your preferred company for breakfast?" Kacey considered that for a moment, then shook her head. "Well, that's a start. Did I do something?" A nod. "Wanna let me know what it was?"

"Made Mommy sad."

Sam sighed. "I'm sorry about that. Sometimes things with adults are kind of hard to understand. But now me and your mom are trying to figure out how we can both be happy living here with you. It'll be okay, I promise." Kacey nodded slightly. She knew that Sam was right; things would be okay, just not at all in the way that he thought.

"All right, then. Breakfast?"

Kacey offered a little smile. "Okay."

* * *

Kara had been right when she speculated to Sam about how the crew integration would result in a few shifted positions. Adama was letting Kara and Kat each have a squadron and both of them would report in to Lee. The ship's new CAG was noticeably absent from their morning meeting, and Kara asked Adama why once they'd finished talking business. 

Ten minutes later, when Lee opened the door to the temporary quarters he'd been given, he found Kara standing in the hall. "What's the matter?" he asked her.

"Your dad told me what happened."

Lee sighed. "Oh."

"Are you okay? I mean – I know you're not, but…frak. You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do." He stepped back, allowing her to enter and closing the door behind her. "I'm not really sure what I am…Numb, maybe. I can't believe that this is real…and I feel horrible for not feeling worse than I do."

Kara frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I miss her. This shouldn't have happened to her, but…I wonder now if I actually loved her." She was surprised speechless for a moment.

"You married her, Lee. You had to love her."

He raised an eyebrow, incredulous. "You think so?" It was entirely possible to marry without love, and both of them knew it.

"That statement might not hold true for everyone," Kara clarified. "But I know you."

Lee scoffed. "Right. Why couldn't I protect her, then?! We knew the ship wasn't going to make it long before you could see the damage on the outside. She wanted to stay with me, but I told her no. I told her she had to go ahead. I sent her to that frakking landing pod."

"You couldn't have known, Lee."

"I was never what she wanted. I couldn't give her the marriage that she wanted, but I tried to protect her. She went first to be safe, so why the frak am I here and she's not?!" A glass exploded against the wall after he hurled it, punctuating that last bit.

Kara grabbed his arms to keep him from breaking something else. "It's not your fault. You didn't want anything to happen to her. You tried your best…I-I'm sorry, Lee. If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened in the first place."

That got his attention. "What are you talking about?"

"They were after Kacey, not the Pegasus. If I hadn't brought her back – "

"You didn't have a choice, Kara. You couldn't have left her on that rock."

"She led them straight to us."

"Not on purpose. And they would have found us eventually anyway."

Kara sighed. "So if it's not my fault, and it's not your fault, whose fault is it?"

That hung in the air for a long moment. "Thank you," Lee finally said.

"For what?"

"For being you. I needed that."

She nodded. "Anytime."

* * *

They planned a service for that afternoon to honor those that had been lost. Kara stood in front of the mirror in her quarters for a long time, staring at her reflection, before picking up a pair of scissors and chopping off a good six inches of hair. It wasn't a perfect haircut, but she had wanted the change. 

"What do you think?" she asked Kacey. The little girl looked up from playing with her stuffed animals on her bed.

"Good," she told her mother. Kara smiled.

She put on her dress uniform, and then considered the smaller jacket that she'd gotten from the quartermaster. It would practically be a dress on Kacey, but it was the thought that counted. Kara hadn't decided yet whether or not to bring her daughter to the service. Cally had agreed to watch Kacey if she didn't go, but if the little girl was able to understand what had happened the day before, her mother wanted her to have the chance to pay tribute to those who had died protecting her.

"Hey, Kace, com'ere for a sec," Kara told her, sitting on the couch. Kacey toddled over. "You know yesterday, when Sharon helped you feel better?" A nod. "There were a lot of other people that were helping, too. People that were protecting you and everyone else on this ship."

"From what?" Kara briefly wondered how replying 'your father' would go over.

"From…from the Cylons." Kacey looked down, silent. "What is it?" Kara asked her, gently using a finger to tip her chin back up. She was surprised to see that Kacey's eyes were full of tears.

"I'm sorry," the little girl whimpered.

"Why, honey?"

"They try and see God, but they not know love."

Kara frowned. "I don't think love is going to help them."

"Love can do anything. But I'm here, not with them."

"That's because you belong here, with me, okay?" Kacey slowly nodded. "I'm gonna go down to the hangar in a little bit, and Cally said she would look after you, all right? You remember Cally and baby Nicholas?" Kacey nodded again.

She may have understood what had happened, but she definitely didn't need to be at the service.

* * *

TBC... 


	24. the Drawing

The service was beautiful, taking place on the hangar deck just like so many other mass funerals that they'd had in the past two years. A priest spoke, as did Adama and a few of the crew. Kara stood at the front, just to the right of Lee while Kat stood on his left, their squadrons behind them. Once they'd been dismissed, several people pushed forward to offer the new CAG their condolences. Kara could tell from the look on Lee's face when he'd about reached his tolerance on dealing with everyone.

"May I have a word with you, Sir?" she asked him. He nodded, excused himself from the others, and followed her off the deck.

"Thank you," Lee said once they were out in the hall. Kara nodded.

"No problem."

"You feel like having a drink?"

"Actually, I should probably go find Sam; I just left him in there."

"Right. Nevermind." Kara instantly felt bad. He'd been her best friend through so much crap over the years, and now when he needed her, she was blowing him off.

"I'll stop by your place in a little bit, okay?" she offered.

"Don't worry about it, Kara."

"No, I'm serious. You better save me a couple shots of whatever you've got."

* * *

Kara was pretty sure, however, that telling her husband she was ditching him to go have shots with Lee wouldn't go over so well, so a pilot's meeting became her cover story. Sam agreed to pick up Kacey, so Kara headed for Lee's room.

The glass bottle on his desk was already two-thirds empty when she came in the hatch. "The rest is yours," he told her, his words slurring slightly.

"Is this the chief's brew?" Kara asked, picking up the bottle.

Lee nodded. "He made a special batch." After one swallow, Kara could see what he meant. The stuff was basically rotgut, way stronger than what they normally bottled for enjoying during card games.

"Whoa," she couldn't help but mutter as the alcohol incinerated her throat. Lee grinned as she set the bottle back down.

"I thought the infamous Starbuck would drink anything?"

"I could match your ass shot for shot," she replied. "I just choose not to."

He shrugged, taking the bottle back. "More for me," he said before working on finishing its contents. "How's Kacey doing?"

"Good…She's feeling fine, and I think she's adjusting okay."

"I had some more chocolate for her, but…It was in my office."

"That's all right…I don't think she REALLY only likes you for your candy." Lee laughed.

"Tell her she's going to have to make a new picture for me."

Kara nodded. "I will."

He sighed, sitting back in his chair, the mood in the room now more somber. "So, here we are…Back to the beginning."

"Is your dad demoting you?"

Lee nodded. "To major at least. It would screw things up in the chain of command if the CAG was ranked higher than the XO."

Kara smiled. "Yeah, but it would be fun to watch Tigh call you Sir whenever you dropped off the CAP schedule."

Lee's expression turned contemplative. "You think we're actually winning?" he asked Kara.

"What do you mean?"

"Between Cloud Nine and the exodus, we lost a few thousand people this past year. We…we lost even more now. Are we actually winning this fight, or just slowly slipping away to oblivion?"

Kara sat forward, wrapping her fingers around his. "As long as we're still fighting, we're winning." He thought about that for a long moment before nodding. "You know I'm getting your ass up to go running with me tomorrow, right?"

"Excuse me?"

She grinned. "Remember all those times you hounded me about getting back into shape when I busted my knee?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Kara laughed. "Oh, I'm sure you don't. But I do, and revenge is sweet."

* * *

Sam started working the next day, so Adama had a little helper for the morning while Kara was flying. She'd passed along Lee's request for a new picture, so Kacey spent her time carefully making a scribble drawing for his desk while her 'grandfather' did his own paperwork.

The picture's recipient stopped by late in the morning to give his father the latest reports on what was being done with his squadrons. They'd been renamed the Galaxy and Pulsar squads, paying homage to the ships that each squad had come from. Galactica had also received some extra help in the form of additional deck crews. So far things were going well in the hangar.

Lee and Adama were just finishing up when Kacey ended their meeting for them, pushing her picture into Lee's hands. "Were we taking too long for you?" Adama asked the little girl, pulling her onto his lap. She solemnly nodded.

Lee cracked a smile, looking down at the paper he was holding. Kacey hadn't managed to stay within the lines at all while coloring in the heart that she'd roughly drawn out, but he got the idea. Two yellow shapes – just a shade or two darker than Kacey's hair – and a brown one flanked the heart. "Thank you," he told the little girl.

She smiled. "Keep it with you," was her order. "Then you not alone."

Lee had a feeling that things around Galactica were going to get interesting when Kacey's vocabulary caught up with her mind. "I will," he told her. "Come here." She wiggled off of Adama's lap and walked over. Lee picked her up in a hug. "Is that you?" he whispered to her, pointing to one of the yellow shapes.

"Uh-huh. It's family."

"I…I'm not your family, Kacey." She frowned for a moment, showing a bit of hurt at the rejection, but aimed a finger at her picture and poked it.

"Family," she said again, with a bit of force, and Lee decided not to argue.

* * *

TBC... 


	25. Dinner

Lee was gone by the time that Kara came to pick up her daughter. "Were you good?" she asked the little girl as she packed up Kacey's things. The child nodded, a grin spread across her face.

Adama joined Kara, handing her the extra drawings Kacey had made. "Is there something I should know about?" he quietly asked her.

"What do you mean?" Kara asked, confused.

"How are things with Sam?"

"Fine."

"You're sure?"

"I was until a few seconds ago…What happened?"

Adama just smiled. "I think he may have some competition for the little one's affections."

* * *

That afternoon, Kacey decided she didn't want a nap, despite the fact that her mother could have used one, too. Kara decided that maybe a book would help settle the little girl down. Adama had scrounged up a couple as a gift, and so she lay down on her bed with her daughter to read. 

They didn't get very far. After about five pages, Kacey started humming a little song to herself, no longer paying any attention. She giggled when Kara tickled her. "Am I boring you, kiddo?" The little girl adorably nodded. "You want a different story?" Another nod.

"I miss home," Kacey admitted. Kara sucked in a breath.

"You mean Caprica?"

"Uh-huh."

"Yeah…I miss it, too, sometimes. If you thought it was nice when you were there, you should have seen it before it got nuked."

"You lived there?"

"Sometimes, when I wasn't here on Galactica. I lived in Caprica City."

Kacey smiled. "Me, too."

In that moment, Kara realized how much she'd lost with Kacey, despite what she'd gained. She honestly couldn't say that she wouldn't have tried to kill the child if the Cylons had actually impregnated her instead of using a surrogate, but looking back, she wished she could have seen her daughter as a baby, could have raised her herself and known everything about her like good parents are supposed to.

"One day we'll be on a planet again," she told the little girl. "We'll find Earth, and you'll know what it's like to live on a planet that hasn't been bombed within an inch of nonexistence. You'll see what life was like before – peaceful and happy."

Kacey offered a sleepy smile, curling up at her mother's side and closing her eyes. Kara couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, NOW you're sleepy, huh? You really are my kid."

* * *

Lee was supposed to be getting work done that afternoon, but found his attention wandering. The quarters he'd been given were doubling as his office, and he'd tacked up Kacey's picture on the wall beside his desk. He hadn't managed to bring much of anything from the Pegasus, and regretted the fact that he'd lost just about every memento from his life before the holocaust, as well as the few things he'd accumulated in the years after. So now Kacey's picture was all he had to decorate with. 

Looking at the clock, he realized that it was approaching dinnertime. He could have eaten alone, like he'd been doing for the past couple days, but he was getting tired of it. Putting down his pen and the reports he'd been attempting to fill out, Lee left his quarters and headed down the hall, stopping to knock on the hatch as he reached his destination.

Kara had sleepy eyes and slightly mussed hair when she opened the door. "Sorry," Lee automatically said. "I didn't know you'd be sleeping."

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing, I just…I was heading to the mess and wondered if you and Kacey wanted to come."

Kara looked behind her. "She's not awake yet. Give us…a half hour? We'll come by your place."

"Sure."

* * *

As Lee made another futile attempt at his paperwork, he wondered if he'd lost his mind. Kacey's picture had been an attempt on the little girl's part to make him feel better, but it didn't change anything. As much as he had come to care for her and her mother, they weren't his family. Pretending just to make himself feel better wasn't fair to anyone. He was about to get up and go cancel – tell Kara that something came up on the deck or some lame excuse like that – when he heard a knock on the open frame of his hatch. Kara was there in off-duty clothes, Kacey on her hip. 

"Ready?" she asked him.

"Um, yeah."

They got trays of food and found a table in the corner of the officer's mess. Kacey amused Lee by making shapes with her mashed potatoes. "I think Mount Potato is about to erupt," he teasingly told her, pouring gravy into the dip in her little mountain until the brown liquid began running down the sides. She giggled happily, poking a finger at their creation.

"Watch it," Kara warned him, "Unless you're going to clean her up later."

"Your mom's no fun, is she?" Lee asked Kacey, who laughed at the look Kara rewarded him with.

"Something going on I should know about?" a voice asked. Kara spun to see Sam behind her.

"What are you – I thought you were working all day?"

"I got off early. Figured I'd come home, we could celebrate…Wasn't expecting this."

"I didn't know that you'd be back. Lee suggested dinner, so we came. Pull up another chair; I'll go get you a plate."

"Don't bother. I wouldn't want to interrupt."

Kara rolled her eyes. "Sam – "

"Hey, it's okay, I'll go," Lee offered. "I've got work to do anyway." However, Kacey caught his fingers as he tried to get up, not letting him leave. "I'll see you later," he promised her. That little scene didn't escape Sam or Kara's attention.

"What the frak is going on?" the ex-pyramid player asked his wife.

Kara was getting annoyed with the caveman routine. "We are not doing this here, and we're not doing it in front of her." She turned to Lee. "You mind staying with her 'til she finishes eating? You can drop her off with Helo or – "

"It's fine," he replied.

"Like hell," Sam cut in. This was HIS wife, HIS family. He'd fought too long and too hard to let Lee Adama ruin it now. He'd won the 'battle' for Kara a year earlier; there was no need for round two.

Sam reached to get Kacey himself, but the little girl slipped away with a small shriek, sliding off her chair to hide under the table. He was entirely surprised to feel Kara's fist smash into his jaw. Caught off balance, he couldn't do anything but watch from his newly-found seat on the floor as Kara pulled Kacey out from her hiding spot and turned toward the door.

"Go home," she tensely told her husband. "I'll be there later." Lee followed her out.

* * *

TBC... 


	26. Truth

Kara hadn't said a word as they walked through the halls, heading toward the senior officers' quarters. She knocked on Adama's hatch, and upon laying eyes on her, he knew that something was very wrong. "What happened?" the Old Man quietly asked. Kacey reached to him for a hug.

"You tell me," Kara shot back as she handed over her daughter, looking between Lee and his father. "You said earlier that Sam might have to watch out for Lee when it came to Kacey. And now he goes completely Neanderthal on us. So what the hell is going on that I don't know about?"

"She made me a picture," Lee spoke up.

"What?"

"A drawing for my office. It was a heart a-and people and she said it was a family."

"Your family," Adama clarified. Kara took that in.

"Okay, I guess she's probably used to having a lot of aunts and uncles around. It's cute, but that doesn't – "

"Kara, there were only three people," Lee interrupted. "I tried to correct her, but…"

She swallowed hard, deciding to deal with the ramifications of that later. "Sam's been off ship all day, so I'm going to assume he didn't actually see this picture."

"He didn't have to," Adama told her. "He probably saw it come to life."

Kara was silent for a long moment, her jaw working. "Can one of you watch her for a little while?" she asked the men. The admiral nodded.

"Where are you going?"

"First, I'm gonna go beat the crap out of something in the training room so I hopefully won't punch my husband again." He raised an eyebrow at that. "Then I'm going to go fix this."

* * *

Kara's hands were red and sore, despite having used gloves, by the time that she got back to her quarters. Sam had an ice pack on his face, and was just sitting on the bed, waiting for her. Silence reigned for a long moment after she'd shut the door behind her. 

"Where's Kacey?" Sam finally spoke up.

"With the Old Man."

He nodded. "I...I'm sorry I scared her."

"I'm not sorry I hit you for it."

"I understand." He knew some of her secrets, and there were still more that he probably didn't ever want to think about. "So…what now?" he asked.

"I don't know."

There was another long pause. "Are you sleeping with him?"

"He's been my friend forever, Sam. And apparently bought my daughter's affection with candy."

"You didn't answer the question."

"No, I'm not. There's never been anything between us."

He scoffed. "Don't frakking lie to my face. There's ALWAYS been something between you. I got a history lesson from a few of your pilots when I first arrived from Caprica; apparently the two of you are legendary. Whether you're flying together or sleeping together or frakking punching each other, there's always something between you."

Kara decided she wasn't going to argue that one. The only thing it would get her was a migraine. "I haven't ever slept with him, Sam. I married you. I went back to Caprica for your ass, for the love of the Gods. What else do you want?"

"Why haven't you?"

"What?"

"You said you've been friends with him forever, but you never slept with him. Why?"

"What the frak are you talking about?"

"It was about two days before we were in bed together, Kara. Would I be wrong if I assumed I'm not the only one to claim that accomplishment?" It took everything in her not to deck him again. Sam decided her silence was a 'yes'. "Why not Lee?"

She honestly didn't have an answer, and that concerned her. She'd never equated sex with love as she was growing up; it was just something she did – something that had been done to her far too early. Several members of her class at the Academy had gotten the privilege of a night with her, but it never meant anything. Zak had actually had an even faster time than Sam's. So why hadn't it ever been like that with Lee?

Sam saw the answer in her eyes, even if she couldn't say it out loud. "I never thought you were actually going to come back to Caprica. I prayed that you would, but…it was a miracle the day you showed up. And I waited and prayed again for four months on New Caprica that you would come back to me once more. But I never had you in the first place, did I?"

"I tried…" Her voice was rough, barely more than a whisper. Getting up, Sam tossed the ice pack on the desk and started packing a bag. Kara just watched him, unable and unwilling to tell him to stop. In one sense, she HAD done what she'd told Adama she would – she'd resolved what had happened earlier in the evening. However, that resolution made things so much more complicated.

"Goodbye, Kara," Sam told her.

She sighed. "Goodbye."

* * *

That night, Kacey volunteered to keep her mother company on the 'big bed' since they were now alone. They curled up together under the blanket and talked about what would come next. Kara gave the little girl her word that she'd always take care of her and wouldn't let anyone hurt her again. It nearly broke her heart when Kacey made the same offer. 

Kara was on the afternoon shift the next day, and dropped Kacey off in the morning with Sharon and Helo so that she could go run before flying. As she stretched out in the hallway outside her quarters, she was surprised to see Lee walking toward her.

"Hey," she said. "You need me for something?"

He nodded. "Mind if I join you? I'm probably gonna be about half as fast, but…"

Kara smiled. "Let's go, Adama. Show me what you've got."

* * *

TBC... 


	27. the Surprise

**A/N: Fluff warning. I wanted things to be happy for a little bit before all hell breaks loose again 8-).**

* * *

Things went well over the next couple of weeks; Kara's life fell into a routine. Taking care of Kacey alone wasn't easy, but she had her friends and the Adamas to help. Lee continued sneaking Kacey sweets whenever he got his hands on some; he loved seeing the smile on her face when he offered her a present. Nothing much had changed with him and Kara. They ran together in the mornings and sometimes had lunch or dinner between shifts, but often those were group meals with other pilots. Kara decided that she wanted to plan a private surprise for a special occasion that was coming up.

Kara stopped outside of Lee's door, kneeling to set Kacey down on her feet. "You know the plan?" she asked her daughter.

"Uh-huh."

"Okay." Kara knocked on the door and then stepped away, leaving Kacey to carry out her part of their surprise.

Lee looked up from the paperwork he was doing when he heard the knock on his hatch. "Come in." He wasn't expecting Kacey to be the one to come inside. "Hey, what are you doing here? Does your mom know where you are?"

"Yep. You wanna play?"

"I can't right now, kiddo. I've got a lot of work to do before tomorrow."

Kacey shook her head. "Mommy says it can wait."

Lee chuckled. "Oh, did she?"

"Uh-huh. Come play now."

"Can I at least finish this one report?"

"I guess so." Kacey plopped down on the floor to wait. Lee shook his head with a smile. It was hard to imagine life on the ship without the little girl.

Ten minutes later, Lee put down his pen. "Okay, what do you want to play?" Kacey got up, grabbed his hand in both of hers and pulled, nearly toppling over and ending up back on the floor when Lee didn't move. "Am I supposed to follow you?"

"Uh-huh, let's go!"

* * *

Kara was waiting in the doorway when Kacey and Lee got down the hall. "I was beginning to wonder if you got lost," she told her daughter, picking her up. 

"So you're in on this, too?" Lee asked her. "What's going on?"

Kara smiled. "Well, I just happened to look through the flight roster and saw that there's an extra name on there. Know anything about that?"

Lee laughed. "Yeah, I believe I do. The doc cleared me today."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"We make dinner!" Kacey told him.

"No, we most certainly did not make dinner," Kara corrected her.

"Thank the Gods," Lee interjected. She shot him a look.

"We did, however, go put in a special request with the mess, and pick up three plates of dinner."

"Sounds good," he said. The food was waiting on the table by the couch. "Wow, a meal without pasta," Lee commented with a laugh as they sat down. It was one of those staples of shipboard food supplies that everyone had quickly gotten sick of.

* * *

Besides the dinner, Kara had also managed to get a berry tart that was the best anyone could do for dessert most days. Kacey, who was settled on Lee's lap, clapped with delight as her mother put the plate on the table. "You went all out," Lee commented.

Kara playfully saluted. "You're worth it. Celebration of the fact that you're once again not big enough of a dipstick for your job." He laughed, raising his cup to touch hers.

"Hear, hear!"

"Can I have?" Kacey asked her mother, pointing to the dessert.

"Sure, kiddo." She cut three slices, and held a fork for Kacey after deciding that the tart didn't need to become finger food for the toddler.

"Thank you for this," Lee told her as she started eating her own dessert once Kacey was finished and had taken a spot on the floor to start coloring pictures. "I'm not even sure my dad knows yet. I'm glad to be celebrating with you, though. You're the one that kicked my ass into gear in the first place."

"Just returning a favor. When I busted my knee, you sent Tigh up to rag on me, didn't you?"

"Um, I exercise my rights under Article 23."

Kara laughed. "As I suspected."

"So, how are you guys doing?"

She looked down at Kacey. "Good."

"You heard anything from Anders?"

"He's on the Geminon Liner. Which is good, I guess. He's happier there, so…We're having our marriage dissolved."

"Really?"

"Yeah, put the paperwork through a couple days ago."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I am, too…Some days I miss him, but…I think some part of me knew it wasn't going to work, I just didn't want to admit it. We're too similar and too different at the same time, if that makes any sense."

"Somewhat. Is he going to see Kacey?"

"No, although I don't think she's terribly broken up about it. It's almost like she knew this was coming more than I did."

"She's an insightful kid."

"Yeah, and she didn't get it from me."

Lee smiled slightly. "Nah, probably not." She smacked his shoulder. "Seriously, though, Kara. Thank you. For doing this, and for putting up with me in general. There's no one else I'd rather have as my wingman."

"I guess I'm stuck with you, then," she replied with a grin. He returned it before taking advantage of the moment to lean forward and kiss her. Neither of them pulled back until the sound of a little voice giggling registered.

"Who invited the peanut gallery?" Lee asked.

Kara smiled. "She's part of the package."

"I guess I can handle that."

"Good." Something was changing between them, taking them somewhere they'd never been before. He'd almost slept with her a couple times over the years, but that had just been some unsuccessful attempts at casual sex, not…this. "I should probably head back to my quarters…" Lee finally said. "Still have a lot to do before tomorrow."

"Right," Kara replied, although neither one of them was moving yet.

"You leaving?" Kacey asked, snapping them out of whatever power they'd been under. The little girl crawled up Lee's legs to sit on his lap.

"Yeah, I am. Thank you for my surprise, though."

"You fly tomorrow?"

"Yep."

"What did I say to tell him?" Kara prompted her daughter.

Kacey grinned. "Good hunting!"

Lee laughed. "Oh, Gods, we ARE corrupting you. Can I get a hug goodnight before I go?" She eagerly wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Mommy happy now," she whispered in his ear. Lee smiled as his eyes met Kara's, realizing that the little girl was right.

"Good," he whispered back.

* * *

TBC... 


	28. Innocence

As she walked into Adama's office two days later, it dawned on Laura Roslin that she hadn't ever actually seen Kacey. She'd had numerous conversations about the little girl with the Admiral and with Tory, but she'd never actually seen her until that morning. Just from looking, there was no way to know what she actually was. Kacey seemed completely innocent, her little tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated on what she was drawing.

Upon hearing footsteps, Kacey looked up from the picture she was making at Adama's desk and smiled at her visitor. "Hi."

"Hello, there." Adama stepped out from the corner he'd been in, a book in his hand. "Ah, there you are," Roslin told him.

"Trying to find a good story for little ears."

"Quite a task, I'm sure," she replied with a smile, her eyes drifting back to the tiny blonde child at his desk. Adama noticed.

"Had you seen her?"

"No, amazingly, after all these weeks…"

"I've always had a problem saying no to her mother. And Kacey likes staying here when Kara's flying. She's starting to learn to read."

Roslin turned to him, amazed. "She's not even two."

"I know."

"Gods…she's more advanced than Isis."

Adama considered that. "Have you seen her lately?"

"No. I haven't…haven't been able to bring myself to visit. I think I may have been unconsciously avoiding Kacey as well."

The topic of their discussion toddled over, holding a piece of paper. "Wanna see my picture?" she asked Roslin.

"All right." She took the page from the little girl, and smiled as she saw what was on it. A roughly-colored-in blue circle was dotted with green and white spaces – a planet.

"Mommy says we gonna find a new home," Kacey explained. "I can't wait to see."

Roslin smiled; the little girl suddenly made her miss teaching. "Me, too." Kacey left her picture and went back to the desk to work on more. "It's hard to believe," Roslin quietly said. "Hard to see her as anything other than what she appears to be."

Adama nodded. "Hard to look at her and see a possible threat."

"Has there been any sign – "

"That she's something other than a curious and frighteningly bright toddler? No."

"Have there been any other incidents?"

"No, but I've heard people talking. Some wonder if she shouldn't be a few decks down in a cage instead of free to roam around this ship."

"She's a little girl."

"She won't always be…she'd be the perfect package for a sleeper agent."

"Is there any way to know for sure?"

"No one knows…I call her family, but she could kill us all."

Roslin looked over at Kacey, busily scribbling away. The little girl glanced up and offered a smile when she saw that she was being watched. "She's not a threat," she realized. "At least not now…we just have to keep it that way."

Adama nodded. "So say we all."

* * *

Kacey continued working on pictures for the next half hour or so while Adama and Roslin continued their meeting. All three of them looked up at the sound of a knock on the hatch. 

"Come on in, Lee," Adama told his son. "What do you need?"

"Well, Kara told me this morning that Kacey was going to need to eat and that you would be in a meeting, so I came to take her to the mess."

Kacey instantly jumped down from her seat, going to take Lee's hand. "Bye, Grandpa!" she called. Adama chuckled.

"Bye, Kace."

Roslin turned to the Admiral as the door closed behind them, a somewhat mischievous smile on her face. She hadn't heard anything about Lee and Kacey interacting before; the image of Major Apollo with the little girl had been quite adorable. "You've been holding out on me," she accused Adama.

He grinned. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

* * *

Kara wound up pulling a double shift, so Lee kept Kacey for the rest of the afternoon. He looked up from the paperwork he was doing at his desk when he heard her stirring on the couch behind him. Lee had been relieved to finally get her to sleep a half hour earlier, but apparently a long nap wasn't in the cards. "Hey, kiddo." 

Kacey looked around. "Where's Mommy?"

"She's flying, Kace, remember?"

"I want Mommy."

Lee frowned, putting down his pen. "She'll be back in a couple hours."

"No, I want Mommy now!"

"I'm sorry, honey. You're stuck with me for a little bit longer." Kacey looked on the verge of tears, nervously fidgeting on the couch. "What's wrong?" Lee asked her, getting up. He knelt in front of her. "Kacey, look at me. What's the matter?"

"Mommy's in trouble."

"Trouble how?"

"I had a dream."

"A dream? About what?"

Kacey sniffled, tears spilling. "Mommy's funeral." Lee wasn't sure how, but he knew this wasn't just a dream. He got up, picking up his phone and dialing.

"This is Major Adama. Get me the Admiral. Now."

* * *

TBC... 


	29. Saving Starbuck

Kacey had woken up just a few minutes too late. By the time the alert was going out to the fleet for everyone to spin up their FTLs, the Cylons were already jumping in. Alert fighters had been called for, but they weren't going to make it out of the tubes in time. The CAP fighters would be on their own for a few dangerous minutes.

Kara momentarily looked away from the Raider she was targeting when she saw a minor explosion out of the corner of her eye. The sound of an alarm filled her cockpit. "Frak!" she muttered, holding down the trigger for a few more moments in order to take out the enemy fighter that had tagged her. "Galactica, Starbuck; I've been hit! Port engine is out, electronics are on the fritz."

"Roger, Starbuck. Can you make it home?"

Kara glanced out the canopy again; most of her port wing was missing, and she had no idea how long she was still going to have power. A slight smirk crossed her face. "Don't really have much of a choice, do I?"

"You're cleared for an emergency landing."

"Copy that. Heading home."

* * *

Kacey sat on the couch in Lee's quarters, watching as he spoke on the phone with someone in CIC. She knew that she hadn't been in time, that the Cylons were out there, and that if she didn't do something, her mother was going to die. 

x x x x x

"Starbuck, Hotdog; one just pulled into your kill slot!" Kara pulled a quick turn, trying to get the Cylon behind her off her tail for just long enough to get a look at how screwed she was. The answer was 'pretty damn.'

"I'm trying to shake him…Anyone else not got their hands full at the moment?" The silence she received was a resounding no.

x x x x x

Kacey closed her eyes, concentrating hard. All she had to do was think, and maybe she could help. It had worked before on New Caprica, she'd been able to control the Centurion that had found her. But that was before Sharon closed her connection. She had to open it again – just for an instant – and she could save Kara.

x x x x x

Kara swung her fighter around fast enough to make her vision gray out momentarily, but it wasn't enough. The Cylon was still on her tail, although its ammunition had yet to hit its mark. "Come on, you little bastard…"

And then she witnessed something she hadn't ever seen before. The Raider behind her suddenly went extreme nose-up, steering directly into the path of an explosive packet that the basestar had launched at Galactica. All of the other pursuing enemy fighters made similar erratic flight paths, ending in their destruction.

In Galactica's CIC, Helo watched all of the Raider's signals disappear at once on Dradis. "What the…"

Adama had been looking at the same image on the center console. "Get our fighters home, now," he ordered.

* * *

It didn't take a genius to figure out that something extremely weird had happened out there. Once Kara had finished talking with Tyrol – her Viper was scrap metal, and he once again had no idea how she'd survived long enough to land – and had spoken with Adama, she went to get Kacey. The extremely enthusiastic greeting she received was her first hint that something was amiss. 

"Hey, hey, I'm all right," she told Kacey, surprised by the strength at which the little girl's arms were wrapped around her neck. "Mommy always comes home."

Lee really wished she wouldn't make promises like that. "She had a dream that you didn't," he spoke up. "Scared her pretty bad."

"A dream?" she asked, looking to Kacey. She solemnly nodded.

"I couldn't let them hurt you; I promised I wouldn't."

An image flashed into Kara's mind, of the Raider that had been tailing her flying off to its death. That hadn't been an accident. "What did you do, Kacey?" she asked. The little girl looked down.

* * *

The Cylons were coming to a similar conclusion aboard the basestar that had attacked the fleet. They'd also seen their fighters suddenly get destroyed by friendly fire and were not amused. Kacey's reconnection had been brief but powerful and the ripples had been felt far and wide. 

"They've turned her against you," one of the Threes told Leoben. "They've gotten her to kill for them." He shook his head.

"No, she's doing what I'd expected all along. She wasn't trying to destroy us; she was trying to protect her mother. Her love is something powerful, something to be respected."

"Her power is in someone else's hands," Six argued.

"We need to bring Kacey and her mother back to us," Leoben proposed.

Three scoffed. "Don't tell me you still think you're going to get her to fall in love with you, do you? Wake up! You received the same knowledge from your daughter that the rest of us did. Kara Thrace does not and will not love you; there's someone else already in her heart. She won't ever understand, won't ever accept you."

"She's accepted Kacey."

Three smiled. "That's because that girl is special. And we have to get her back…or destroy her, before she becomes even more of a threat."

"Destroying her is not an option," he asserted. "We'll get her back."

* * *

TBC... 


	30. Colonial Day

**A/N: This is the first story I've ever had that got more than 100 reviews, so I wanted to sincerely say thank you to everyone who's left feedback.**

* * *

Time passed as plans fell into place. The Cylons continued to track the fleet and wait for their moment. Meanwhile, life went on for the survivors of the human race. It was medically verified that Kacey's link was no longer open, and she posed no immediate danger to the fleet. Therefore, she got to continue life with her little unofficial family.

Excitement built throughout the fleet as Colonial Day approached. It was the third since the destruction of the Colonies and the first since the exodus from New Caprica. The Intersun Luxury Liner was hosting a big soiree and as commander of the fleet's air group, Lee didn't have much trouble getting a pair of tickets.

"We can't leave Kacey here," Kara told him as they discussed it in his office.

"Why not?"

"Because we just can't! It's her first Colonial Day. How can we just dump her off with someone?"

"We can do things with her on the Galactica during the day. And it's not just 'someone' that'll be watching her; I already talked to the Chief. She can see Nicholas, and besides that, she'll be asleep an hour after we leave." She still looked torn. "Come on, Kara, we need this. When was the last time we spent any time together without Kacey and not doing something work related?"

She thought about it. "Gods…I don't even know."

"So we're going?"

"Yeah. We're going."

* * *

By the morning of Colonial Day, Kara and Kacey's quarters were decorated with little slips of paper that were colored to match the banners of the twelve colonies. Kacey was very excited about the holiday, and insisted upon wearing Caprica's colors for the occasion. Kara had worked hard to find the perfect little shirt and pants. If anyone having breakfast in the officer's mess was disturbed by the fact that a half-Cylon child was wishing everybody a Happy Colonial Day, they kept their mouths shut. 

"Did you finish your banners?" Adama asked Kacey while he watched her for the morning. He'd been helping her with them a couple days earlier.

She nodded. "All of them. Mommy said they pretty."

"I'm sure they are."

Kacey's expression turned contemplative. "Can we go somewhere?" she asked her 'grandfather.'

"Where would you like to go?"

She fidgeted slightly, wondering if he'd understand. "The wall."

"What wall?"

Kacey pulled a paper out of her little pocket and unfolded it. There were three scribble-shapes of yellow with crudely drawn smilie faces below them. "I want to leave it for Other Mommy. But I don't want Mommy to be sad."

Adama reached to pick up the little girl. "Let's go."

* * *

Galactica's memorial wall had expanded considerably over the past couple of years. Thousands of photos lined one of the ship's corridors, along with candles and notes. Adama wondered how Kacey knew about the place, but decided against asking. 

Finding an empty spot on the wall, he held her up so that she could reach to tack on her picture. "Do you remember her?" he asked.

"Daddy said she was nice. She looked like Mommy. She took care of me for long as she could. No me without her." Adama found himself wishing that they knew more. This completely random woman had given them Kacey – whether it was against her will or not was another matter – and they didn't even know her name.

"Ready to go?" he asked the little girl, his voice rough. She nodded.

"Thank you."

* * *

Kara and Lee took Kacey stargazing on the observation deck that afternoon before having dinner and dropping her off with the Tyrols. "Be good, okay?" Kara told her daughter as she set her down inside of Galen and Cally's quarters. Kacey nodded. 

"Have fun."

"Thank you…You sure you're up for this?" she asked Cally as she stood back up. She laughed.

"Stop worrying; we'll be fine. Go enjoy yourselves. You look great, by the way." Kara had managed to find an actual dress for the occasion, and had gotten Sharon to help even out the minor hack-job of a haircut that she'd given herself a few weeks earlier. She definitely felt like a girl, but for once, that was okay.

"Kara, we gotta go catch the shuttle," Lee told her.

"Okay, okay. We'll come pick you up when we get back," she told Kacey. "So you'll be back in your bed when you wake up in the morning."

"'Kay. Bye Mommy." Lee finally managed to pull her out the door, chuckling as they walked down the hallway.

"What is that for?" Kara asked him.

"Nothing, just…you are such a mom." She felt obligated to punch him in the shoulder, but truthfully didn't really mind his observation so much.

* * *

The Intersun Liner wasn't quite as fancy as Cloud Nine had been, but it was the best the fleet could do for glamour these days, and the Colonial Day Ball was a veritable 'who's who' of the remnants of humanity. Kara and Lee hadn't been surprised to see Adama join them for the shuttle ride over to the ship, but they hadn't expected to see him meet his date outside of the ballroom. 

"I think I'm going to have to have a talk with my father when we get back," Lee told Kara as they went to find their table. She snorted.

"It's a little late to be explaining the birds and the bees, Lee. Did you really not know that something was going on with them?"

"Well…no."

Kara smiled. "I think most of us living in the military suburb figured it out early on when those visits the Old Man made to speak with Baltar on New Caprica included a stop down in tent-ville to see how the school year was going."

Lee looked over at his father and Roslin as they also entered the large hall, arms linked together. "I'm still having a little chat with him tomorrow…payback for that torturous speech he gave me at age sixteen on 'what happens between women and men'."

"You know your mother made him do it."

"That didn't make it any less embarrassing."

* * *

TBC... 


	31. Night to Remember

There was good food, good music, speeches from the quorum, Roslin, and Adama. Overall, the night appeared to be a complete success; spirits were good and fleet morale was pretty high.

"Dance with me?" Lee asked Kara at one point after they'd been doing some obligatory mingling with the captains of other ships.

"I suppose," she teased him.

Lee had purposely chosen to find and wear an actual suit instead of his dress uniform. For one night, they could be nobodies, blending with everyone else. They didn't have to worry about the fleet or the war or anything else.

"Are you going to kick my ass if I tell you you're the most beautiful woman in here?" Lee asked at one point.

"Depends. Make it worth my while not to." He fished in his pocket for something, and then showed it to her – a key. "Oh, you were just trying to butter me up because you wanted something."

Lee smiled. "Depends. Is it working?"

Kara took the key from him. "We can't stay here the whole night."

"Then I guess we should probably ditch the festivities now."

* * *

When Kara woke up a few hours later, it took a second for her to realize where she was – a bed in a stateroom on the Intersun Liner. She could feel a warm weight next to her that wasn't normally there, and an arm was draped across her stomach. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Lee was awake, blue eyes watching her. 

"Hey," he quietly said.

"How long have you been staring at me?"

Lee smiled. "A while. And I've been thinking."

"That's never a good sign." That comment was rewarded with a poke in the side.

"I'm allowed to be introspective," he told her. "It's been quite a night."

Kara smiled. "Mmm. Well worth the wait."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "The wait?"

"Nevermind…You're right, it's been quite a night."

"Who would have thought we could go this long without trying to kill each other, let alone…"

"Let alone be happy together?"

"Yeah."

She laughed. "Nobody."

He was quiet for a moment. "Move in with me."

Kara rolled over to look him in the eyes. "What?"

"You and Kacey. Move in with me."

"Are you serious?"

"We're together all the time anyway, and it would free up a set of quarters for someone else."

"So this is just about practicality?"

"You know it's not."

"And what happens a few weeks or months from now when one of us gets scared and does something stupid?"

"I don't know…We remember tonight?"

She thought about that for a long moment. "Okay. But YOU're moving in with US."

* * *

Cally had gone to bed with Nicholas, but Tyrol was still up when Kara lightly knocked on his door upon arriving back on Galactica with Lee. "Thanks, Chief," she quietly told him. 

"No problem. She's a great kid."

Kara leaned over the couch, carefully trying to gather her daughter in her arms without waking her. "Mommy?" the little girl sleepily whispered.

"Shh, go back to sleep." Kacey laid her head on her shoulder and obeyed.

Lee was waiting in the hallway, and walked back with them to their quarters. "I guess I should get going," he said as Kara finished tucking Kacey in.

"It's after two AM," Kara told him. "Just stay here for the night."

"You sure?"

"We better get used to it, right?"

Lee smiled. "Yeah."

* * *

Considering how late it had been when they got to sleep, Kara wasn't at all thrilled to wake up to the sound of the ship's klaxons going off only two hours after going to bed. Pilots weren't being called to their fighters; the fleet was just going to jump away. However Lee still wanted to head up to the CIC and find out what was going on. Just before he made it to the battlestar's nerve center, the ship took a couple heavy impacts that knocked nearly everyone from their feet. 

"Were those nukes?" he asked as he walked to the center console. Adama shook his head.

"Ships." The admiral raised the intercom to his mouth. "All hands, prepare for jump." Time and space bent nauseatingly as the ship moved faster than the speed of light to its next destination.

"All ships present and accounted for," Helo reported in from his station. Lee followed his father over to the DC board – at the moment, it didn't look good.

"We've got bad fires topside," Captain Kelly reported. "Teams are on their way."

"Why the frak are they starting with the kamikaze tactic again?" Lee asked.

"Hardest thing to protect against," Adama quietly replied.

The DC lights for half the starboard side of the ship suddenly went out – not red, not green, just out. "What the…" Lee muttered.

"There must be a short somewhere," Kelly said, smacking an open palm against the board as if that would actually fix it. The lights in the entire room flickered.

"We just lost sensor data and power to most of the ship," one of the other bridge officers reported. Adama turned to Helo.

"Where did those ships hit?" he asked.

He looked through his data. "Um, one of them was confirmed by Colonial One as destroyed on impact, topside. The other…starboard side, near the landing pod, also assumed destroyed."

Adama sighed. "Assuming gets us killed."

"They got onboard?" Lee asked his father, and received a curt nod in return.

"Where are Kara and Kacey?" the admiral asked, and wasn't surprised to see his son immediately bolt out the door.

* * *

TBC... 

**Yeah, another cliffhanger. We're actually getting really close to the end...**


	32. Hide and Seek

Kara anxiously paced her quarters, waiting for Lee to get back. It had been obvious that the ship had gotten a beating, but they had managed to jump. Since the lights hadn't been on before, she didn't realize that the power had gone out, but she could FEEL that something was wrong and didn't want to wait for Lee to find out what.

Knowing that later in the day she was going to regret waking her daughter up, Kara pulled Kacey from her bed. "Mommy?" the little girl asked.

"Everything's going to be okay, Kace. We just have to go find Lee and Grandpa."

"I had a dream," Kacey announced as they went into the hall. "You were wrong, Mommy."

"About what?"

"It not been THAT long since we saw Daddy."

Kara felt like ice water was running through her veins. "Where's Daddy, Kacey?"

The little girl smiled innocently, completely unafraid. "Playing hide and seek. He's 'it'."

Kara turned around and started walking in the other direction. She'd grown up playing that game in order to avoid her mother and her boyfriends; CIC would be an easy guess for a hiding spot. It didn't matter if there really was nowhere to hide on the battlestar - they had to try.

* * *

"Kara!" Lee yelled as he pushed open the door to her quarters and ran inside. Swinging around the flashlight he'd gotten from a marine, he saw that the room was empty. 

"They here?" a voice asked, and Lee turned to find Helo running up behind him.

"No."

"Okay, we don't know that the Cylons have them. Could Kara have gotten up and left herself?"

"Yeah, but where would she go other than CIC? We didn't see her in the halls."

"We gotta just start looking, okay? We need to find them." Lee nodded.

"Go get those marines that were a couple halls over. When we do find them, a few extra guns might be nice to have."

* * *

The Galactica's halls were eerily dark. Slipping into a small access way, Kara held Kacey close with one arm while she used the other to climb down the ladder. Her heart stopped as she heard the sound of centurions walking by below them. 

"Don't make a sound," she whispered to Kacey. The little girl obeyed, clinging to her mother.

As the sound of footsteps went away, Kara continued climbing and checked the hallway. It looked clear, so she kept walking. There was an armory on this floor, and she needed a gun if they were going to have any chance. She'd left her sidearm in their quarters, having walked out of the room before realizing exactly what was going on onboard the ship.

Rounding a corner, Kara absolutely froze as she came face to face with Leoben and three centurions. They'd silently been waiting for her, all of them with weapons aimed and ready.

"Hello, Kara," Leoben calmly said. "It's six times now, if you were counting. You can kill me, you can run, but we belong together. We are a family. Now, don't make me do something we're both going to regret," he indicated his gun, which was still pointed at her. "We're going home, now."

"No, Daddy."

Everyone stopped and looked at Kacey. "What?" he whispered, disbelieving that the words had come from her mouth.

"We not leaving," she told him. "You tried to understand love, but you didn't. Couldn't. You no really love Mommy. Real love means you want her happy. Always happy, don't care how. You only want Mommy always with you."

"What have you done to her?" Leoben asked Kara, stepping forward. She just shrugged, although tried to step back to keep space between them.

"You made your dream," Kacey continued. "Made me. But you not walking the path no more."

Leoben reached for her. "Kace, we're going home, honey."

"No, Daddy. Home for me is here now. Here with Mommy." She offered him a smile. "I keep going on my path. You find yours again…Maybe I see you someday."

Kara flinched, hard, at the sound of gunfire, trying to turn away and shield Kacey. Leoben dropped like a sack of wet cement as the bullets impacted his body, and the centurions flew apart. Standing at the end of the hall were Lee, Helo, a few marines, and a lot of artillery. "You okay?" Lee called. Kara slowly nodded.

"That's seven," she muttered to Leoben as he bled out onto the floor. "Are there more still on the ship?" Kara asked Lee as he ran over.

"Nobody's sure yet; we should get you up to CIC."

"Yeah, let's go." She started to follow him down the hall, but realized that Kacey was staring down at the floor, a hand reaching out for her father's body. "Kace?"

She curled her outstretched fingers, giving a little wave. "Bye, Daddy." Kara hugged her closer and kept walking.

* * *

It was morning by the time they finished scouring the ship to make sure all the centurions had been taken care of. They'd lost several marines and a few other crewmen that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even though everyone was exhausted, Kara and Lee were still supposed to be on duty, so Kacey got left to sleep in Adama's quarters while they were flying. 

Roslin stopped by just before lunchtime to see that the little girl was still sprawled on her grandfather's couch. "How is she?" the president asked, taking a seat in the chair before Adama's desk.

"Alive and still on this ship."

She sighed. "Can she stay on this ship?"

"She's going to be a target no matter where she is. At least if she's here, we have a chance of protecting her."

"Have you considered what happens if we lose her?"

"No," Adama flatly replied. "Because it's not going to happen."

Roslin nearly jumped out of her skin when a little hand landed on her arm. Neither one of them had seen Kacey get up. "Hi, there. Did we wake you up?"

Kacey shook her head. "Don't worry. When the time comes, we gonna take care of ourselves."

Roslin frowned. "Who's 'we', honey?"

She smiled. "Me 'n Hera."

Adama and Roslin shared a look, both extremely surprised. "How do you know about Hera?" the Admiral asked his 'granddaughter.'

"I always known," she replied with a giggle.

"Do the other Cylons know?" Roslin inquired.

Kacey shook her head. "She my cousin." She raised a little finger to her lips as though to say 'shh'. "Secret…Can I have breakfast now?"

"Y-yeah," Adama shakily told her. And at least for the time being, Hera would stay their secret.

* * *

**Only one chapter left...**


	33. One Year Later

Galactica's observation deck was nearly empty, save three people sitting in the window. To a casual observer, they were a perfect family, but the people that knew and loved them understood how much they'd been through to be together. 

"Are you sure it's not your bedtime yet?" Lee asked Kacey. The two-and-a-half-year-old (who still looked a good year older than she was) shook her head with a giggle, blonde curls flying.

"No! I want to see."

"See? What's there to see? You've seen tons of jumps before."

"Not this one!"

"Yeah," Kara defended her daughter. "Not number one thousand."

After three years, the fleet had moved nine hundred and ninety-nine jumps away from the Colonies, nine hundred and ninety-nine jumps beyond the red line. There was no going back, only going forward. They'd had few run-ins with the Cylons in the past few months and their one thousandth jump was currently scheduled as a finale to their Colonial Day festivities. Instead of running from their enemy, they were simply searching for a place to stock up on water and supplies.

"You can't have the flower girl falling asleep in the middle of a wedding," Lee teasingly continued to protest, smiling at Kara. Kacey sighed adorably, exasperated.

"I'm not gonna fall asleep! Promise! Mommy, tell him I won't fall asleep."

Kara laughed. "Are you sure, kiddo?"

"Uh-huh! Everybody's gonna be there: Grandpa and Grandma Laura and Helo and Sharon and the Chief and Cally and Nicky and the Galaxy Squadron and the Star Squadron – "

"Pulsar," Kara interrupted. Kacey was never able to remember the word.

" – and Uncle Tigh and Crazy Ellen and everybody," Kacey finished her list.

"Don't call her Crazy Ellen to her face," Lee told the little girl.

"Why not?" Kara and Kacey asked in unison, sending the child into a fit of giggles.

"Everyone's going to be there," Kacey continued, "So I won't fall asleep. Promise."

"What happens tomorrow after the wedding?" Kara prompted her daughter.

Kacey grinned. "You'll be married."

"Uh-huh," Lee said, "And what happens once we're married?"

"We get to be a family. You're my mommy and daddy forever."

He smiled at Kara. "How'd you ever manage to have a kid this smart?"

Before she could reply, the overhead speaker crackled to life. "All hands, this is the Admiral. Brace for FTL jump."

"The big one-oh-oh-oh," Lee said as they all turned to watch out the window. For a moment, as reality warped, they couldn't see anything, but then the fleet came back into focus.

"That was it?" Kacey asked him, looking confused. "No party?"

Lee laughed. "Yeah, kiddo, that was it. Bedtime now." He reached to take her from Kara, who was still staring outside. "You coming?" he asked his soon-to-be wife.

"Look over there," she told him, pointing out the window. "What does that look like to you?" Lee looked, and froze.

"Oh, my Gods."

"So it's not just me?" Kara asked.

"No."

"What is it?" Kacey asked them.

"Unless I've totally lost my mind, that is the Lagoon Nebula." He smiled down at her. "You want to see a party, kiddo?" Kacey nodded. "There's gonna be a rather nice one when we get up to CIC and tell Grandpa what we saw."

She grinned. "Let's go!"

* * *

A thousand jumps away, back on Caprica, a man stood at a window, watching Centurions walk the street below. "Leoben?" he heard a voice say, and turned to see a Simon model standing behind him, a little bundle in his arms. "He's healthy." 

Leoben walked over and took the child from the doctor, carefully cradling him. "A boy?" he asked. Simon nodded. "Did the surrogate survive?"

"No…but he was perfectly fine."

"Just like his sister," he mused. Leoben walked back to the window. "You have your mother's strength in you, too. You are a second chance, the light that will show us the way. One day, we WILL bring your mother and sister home."

* * *

**Fin.**

**Thank you to everyone who's come along on this little ride and particularly to everyone who's left feedback. **

**I'm toying with the idea of a sequel to deal with Kacey and Hera/Isis, so if anyone's got ideas that they want to contribute, feel free. At pilotlover's suggestion, I'm also thinking of working on a plot bunny left on 'Beyond Insane'; I'm not sure which project I'll tackle first.  
**


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